"CONTENTdm"@en . "http://resolve.library.ubc.ca/cgi-bin/catsearch?bid=3202327"@en . "British Columbia History"@en . "British Columbia Historical Association"@en . "2015-07-17"@en . "1946-07"@en . "British Columbia Historical Quarterly: Vol. 10 (X), No. 3"@en . ""@en . "https://open.library.ubc.ca/collections/bch/items/1.0190577/source.json"@en . "application/pdf"@en . " THE\nBRITISH\nCOLUMBIA\nHISTORICAL\nQUARTERLY\nJULY, 1946 BRITISH COLUMBIA HISTORICAL QUARTERLY\nPublished by the Archives of British Columbia\nin cooperation with the\nBritish Columbia Historical Association.\nEDITOR.\nW. Kaye Lamb.\nThe University of British Columbia, Vancouver, B.C.\nASSOCIATE EDITOR.\nWillard E. Ireland.\nProvincial Archives, Victoria, B.C.\nADVISORY BOARD.\nJ. C. Goodfellow, Princeton. T. A. Rickard, Victoria.\nW. N. Sage, Vancouver.\nEditorial communications should be addressed to the Editor.\nSubscriptions should be sent to the Provincial Archives, Parliament\nBuildings, Victoria, B.C. Price, 50c. the copy, or $2 the year. Members\nof the British Columbia Historical Association in good standing receive the\nQuarterly without further charge.\nNeither the Provincial Archives nor the British Columbia Historical\nAssociation assumes any responsibility for statements made by contributors\nto the magazine.\nThe Quarterly is indexed in Faxon's Annual Magazine Subject-Index. BRITISH COLUMBIA\nHISTORICAL QUARTERLY\n\" Any country worthy of a future\nshould be interested in its past.\"\nVol. X. Victoria, B.C., July, 1946. No. 3\nCONTENTS.\nThe Collins Overland Telegraph. Page.\nBy Corday Mackay 187\nThe Oregon Treaty: Finis to Joint Occupation.\nBy Robert E. Cail 217\nEsquimalt Dockyard's First Buildings.\nBy Madge Wolfenden 235\nNotes and Comments:\nBritish Columbia Historical Association 241\nCentenary of the Signing of the Oregon Boundary Treaty 242\nAddress of the Hon. George M. Weir 244\nBritish Columbia Historical Association Essay Competition 245\nHelmcken House Museum 246\nContributors to this Issue 246\nThe Northwest Bookshelf:\nThe Journal of John Work, January to October, 1885.\nBy Grace Lee Nute 247\nRunnalls: A History of Prince George.\nBy J. C. Goodfellow 248\nGraham: Fur and Gold in the Kootenays.\nBy W. Kaye Lamb 249\nMcKelvie: Maquinna the Magnificent.\nBy Willard E. Ireland 250\nWalter: Early Days among the Gulf Islands of British Columbia.\nBy W. Kaye Lamb 251 Vol IX.\u00E2\u0080\u0094No. 450.]\nNEW YORK, SATURDAY, AUGUST 12, 18S5.\nr coraut o\u00C2\u00BBtc\u00C2\u00BB raw <\n14.& FEB TJLA* IV APTAJIOm\nr_M-\u00C2\u00AB*4 im\u00C2\u00ABII|tWM * Co*\"**, la IH W l\u00C2\u00ABV hj lUrfpr * BwfcMlk, It !\u00E2\u0096\u00A0\u00C2\u00BB *\"W**\u00C2\u00BB Q\u00C2\u00AB- rf 111 PMfW W *T d\u00C2\u00BB 1\u00E2\u0080\u0094M\u00C2\u00BBff\u00C2\u00BB CTtMH g Yrl T**.\n5#^ i\nB^Bj THE COLLINS OVERLAND TELEGRAPH.*\nIn the fall of 1943 Brigadier-General James A. O'Connor,\ncommander of the United States North-west Service Command,\nand officer in charge of the building of the Alaska Highway, presented to the Provincial Archives, Victoria, and to the City of\nVancouver, photostat copies of the Papers of Colonel Charles S.\nBulkley. The same year a third copy was presented to the\nLibrary of the University of British Columbia by Mr. Isaac\nBurpee, of Portland, Oregon.1\nThese gifts drew attention to a valuable and unusually interesting record in the early history of British Columbia, for here,\nin the even, back-sloping penmanship, and the formal, almost\nelegant style of the 19th century, is a detailed account of one of\nthe most ambitious schemes of that adventurous period: the\nattempt to bridge the distance which separates Europe, Asia, and\nNorth America by building an inter-continental telegraph line.\nIn the long lines of communication necessary to accomplish this,\nthe unexplored northern wilds of British Columbia were to be an\nimportant link. That this ambitious attempt ended in failure\nwas in no way the fault of its originators. They were merely\nthe losers in a race with time; for the final successful laying of\n* For two interesting and informative accounts of the Overland Telegraph see James D. Reid, The Telegraph in America and Morse Memorial,\nNew York, 1886, Chapter 29 (pp. 508-17), and Donald McNicol, \" Pioneer\nAttempt to Establish Telegraph Communication Between America and\nEurope,\" Telegraph and Telephone Age, July 1, 1926, pp. 289-94. Some\ntime ago Mr. McNicol assembled an outstanding collection of books, pamph- \u00E2\u0080\u00A2\nlets, clippings, manuscripts, etc., relating to the history of telegraphy, and\nin 1941 presented it to the Library of Queen's University, Kingston, where\nit is known as the McNicol Collection. It includes some of the original correspondence between Collins, the Western Union Telegraph Company, and\nofficials in Russia. This and much other material was made available to\nthe writer through the kindness of Mr. E. C. Kyte, Librarian of Queen's\nUniversity. \u00E2\u0080\u00A2>\n(1) The original manuscript is in the possession of the Library Association of Portland, Oregon. There is no title-page, and the Library of the\nUniversity of British Columbia has catalogued its copy as: Charles S.\nBulkley, Papers: Comprising correspondence relative to the Collins Overland Telegraph Scheme, July, 1865-June, 1867. .\nBritish Columbia Historical Quarterly, Vol. X.. No. 3.\nIllustration on opposite page, courtesy. The Canadian Geographical Journal.\n187 \u00E2\u0096\u00A0 \u00E2\u0080\u00A2' 188 Corday Mackay. July\nthe Atlantic cable came in July, 1866, and rendered superfluous\na Russian-American overland telegraph-line.\nThe scheme was a logical step in the development of telegraphic communication. The first public line in England was\nbuilt between London and Slough in 1843; the following year\nthe first line in America was opened between Washington and\nBaltimore. In Canada the first telegraphic communication was\nestablished in 1846, between Toronto and Hamilton. By the\nearly sixties a vast network of lines had been built in Europe\nand in Eastern North America; and in October, 1861, a transcontinental line was completed to San Francisco.\nIn the meantime the idea of submarine cables, to carry lines\nfrom continent to continent, had already been entertained. The\ndiscovery of gutta-percha as an insulating material, in 1848, gave\na great impetus to this plan. The first effective cable was laid\nbetween Dover and Calais in 1851, and by 1854 there were several cables operating successfully between England, Ireland, and\nthe Continent. In 1856 the Atlantic Telegraph Company was\nformed, and the following year an attempt was made to lay an\nAtlantic cable. This ended in failure when the cable broke and\ncould not be recovered. In 1858 another attempt ended in\nmomentary success. The cable was actually laid from shore to\nshore; but less than three months after its triumphant completion it faltered and fell silent. It was this second failure, which\nwas widely accepted as proof that a trans-Atlantic cable would\nbe impracticable for many years to come, that led to the development of the overland scheme as an alternative means of linking\nthe great centres of Europe with those of the United States.\nThe chief originator and promoter of the overland telegraph\nwas Perry McDonough2 Collins, about whom strangely little is\nknown. His name appears in none of the standard biographical\ndictionaries, and a careful search for information made some\nyears ago produced only the barest outline of his early career.\n(2) Collins seems to have spelled his second name \" McDonough,\" as his\nname is given as \" Perry McD. Collins \" on the title-page of A Voyage Down\nthe Amoor. This was actually incorrect, for, as noted later, he was named\nafter two American naval officers who won distinction during the War of\n1812\u00E2\u0080\u0094Thomas Macdonough and Oliver Hazard Perry. 1946 The Collins Overland Telegraph. 189\n. . . Collins was born about 1813 in a village up the Hudson, probably\nHyde Park [since made famous by its associations with Franklin D. Roosevelt], and was named after the [American] naval heroes of the war of 1812,\nCommodores Perry and MacDonough [sic]. As a young man he came to\nNew York to seek his fortune, with no particular advantages in education\nor family influence. He was attracted to New Orleans and for a while\nworked for a Mississippi steamship company, probably as a clerk. . . .\nDuring the gold rush in 1849, Collins went to California by way of\nPanama and formed a partnership as a banker and dealer in gold dust\nwith the father-in-law of U. S. Grant, the firm being known as Collins &\nDent. . . .3\nWe know also that he was called to the Bar in California.\nBut Collins was a promoter by nature, and he himself has recorded how his mind was soon busy with plans extending to\ndistant horizons:\u00E2\u0080\u0094\nFor several years previous to 1855 [he wrote in 1860], while residing\nin California, I had given much study to the commercial resources of the\nPacific side of the United States, especially in connection with the opposite\ncoast of Asia. I had already fixed in my own mind upon the river Amoor\n[Amur] as the destined channel by which American commercial enterprise\nwas to penetrate the obscure depths of Northern Asia, and open a new\nworld to trade and civilization, when news arrived in 1855 that the Russians\nhad taken possession of the Amoor country, and formed a settlement at the\nmouth of the river. Greatly interested by this event, the important consequences of which my previous speculations enabled me fully to comprehend,\nI proceeded to Washington in search of accurate information on the subject.\n. . . What I chiefly desired was to examine the whole length of the Amoor,\nand ascertain its fitness for steamboat navigation. That point settled in\nthe affirmative, everything else was sure to follow as a matter of course.\nAt Washington, I had conferences with President Pierce, Secretary [of\nState] Marcy, and the Russian Ambassador, which resulted in my appointment, March 24, 1856, as Commercial Agent of the United States for the\nAmoor River.\nArmed with this commission, and with letters to influential personages\nat St. Petersburg, I started without delay for the Russian Capital, resolved\nto traverse the empire from West to East, cross Siberia, enter Tartary, and,\nif possible, descend the Amoor river from its source to its mouth. . . .4\nThis adventurous journey Collins completed without mishap.\nHe was delayed for six months in St. Petersburg and Moscow,\n(3) From a sketch of Collins's life compiled about 1928 by Professor\nPhilip B. McDonald, of the Department of English, College of Engineering,\nNew York University. McNicol Collection.\n(4) Perry McD. Collins, A Voyage Down the Amoor, New York, 1860,\npp. 1-2. 190 Corday Mackay. July\nbut the time was far from being wasted. He spent his days\ncultivating the acquaintance of influential officials, and in gaining their good-will towards his plans to promote trade and\nimprove communications. When he finally left Moscow on\nDecember 3, 1856, he was firmly established in their good graces.\nFor interesting reading, Collins's A Voyage Down the Amoor,\npublished in 1860, can hold its own with many a modern travel\nbook. In prose that may be formal, but is never tedious, he\ndescribes his winter journey, mostly by cariole, across the icy\nhighways from Moscow to Irkutsk, and his barge voyage down\nthe Ingoda, Shilka, and Amur rivers in the late spring and early\nsummer of 1857. Nikolaevsk, at the mouth of the Amur, was\nreached on July 11, and Collins was encouraged to find that a\nnumber of American business houses had recently established\nbranches there, and that several American vessels were in port.\nIn August he sailed for home, and some months later arrived\nback in San Francisco.\nIt is usually said that Collins went to Russia to promote the\noverland telegraph project, but there is little evidence that this\nis so. No reference to the scheme appears in his account of his\ntravels, and at the time he seems to have been concerned solely\nwith ascertaining ways and means whereby American goods\ncould be carried into Siberia. While at Chita, he corresponded\nwith the Russian authorities regarding the possibility of building\na railway from Kyakhta to Irkutsk, which would form a link\nbetween the tributaries of the Amur River on the one hand and\nthe river systems of the Siberian interior on the other; but the\ntelegraph nowhere appears in the story. It was undoubtedly\nthe failure of the first attempt to lay an Atlantic cable, which\nwas a topic of the day when he returned to the United States,\nand the subsequent fate of the 1858 cable, that brought the telegraph to the fore in Collins's mind. He himself had just traversed some of the most difficult country through which an overland line would have to pass; he had seen no insurmountable\nobstacles there, and he was convinced that the scheme was practical. If he could secure some aid from the United States Government, interest the Western Union Telegraph Company, and\nenlist the influence of his Russian friends, he was confident that\nthe great scheme would not prove impossible of accomplishment. 1946 The Collins Overland Telegraph. 191\nBy 1860 Collins was ready to approach the United States\nGovernment. This he did by submitting a memorial in which\nhe outlined his plan and asked the \" aid of Congress, in order to\nmake a thorough exploration and survey of the coasts, islands,\nand seas of the Russian possessions, both in Asia and America,\"\nfrom the mouth of the Amur to the northern limits of British\nColumbia.6 (Alaska, it will be remembered, was at this time\nstill Russian territory.) The memorial was referred to the Committee on Commerce of the House of Representatives, and Congressman John Cochrane, its chairman, submitted the Committee's report on February 18, 1861. The verdict was entirely\nfavourable. The report reviewed the obstacles of weather and\ngeography which stood in the path of the scheme, and declared\nthat none of them was insurmountable. As far as climate was\nconcerned, it was \" known to practical working telegraphists that\nhigh latitudes add to rather than retard the electric current.\"\nThis had been proven on the lines from Berlin to St. Petersburg\n\u00E2\u0080\u0094all to the north of 47\u00C2\u00B0, and in part as high as 60\u00C2\u00B0 north latitude.6 The fact that the only submarine cable required\u00E2\u0080\u0094that\nacross Bering Strait\u00E2\u0080\u0094was no more than 40 miles in length was\nturned to good account, for the report expressed the conviction\nthat ocean cables of great length were impracticable, and pointed\nout that this meant that \" without some new plan by which a\ntelegraph can be constructed . . . Europe and America must\nremain as far asunder as if electricity had never been discovered,\nor Morse, Wheatstone, Amphere, and Siemens never had lived.\"7\n\" Under all the circumstances,\" the report concluded, \" the committee recommend an adequate appropriation by Congress, in\norder to carry out successfully the views of the petitioner, and\nfor that purpose report a bill.\"8\n(5) Perry McD. Collins, Overland Explorations in Siberia, Northern\nAsia and the great Amoor Country; . . . with Map and Plan of an Overland Telegraph Around the World, New York, 1864, p. 405. The appendix\nto this volume (pp. 391-467), which was a reissue of Collins's A Voyage\nDown the Amoor, carries the story of the negotiations regarding the telegraph scheme down to May, 1864.\n(6) Ibid., pp. 405-6.\n(7) Ibid., p. 408.\n(8) Ibid., p. 418. 192 Corday Mackay. July\nThe appropriation recommended was $50,000; but the bill\nfell by the wayside. Continuing his campaign, Collins returned\nto the attack the following year. Upon this occasion his memorial was considered by the Senate Committee on Military\nAffairs, and the report was presented by Senator Milton S.\nLatham on February 17, 1862. Once again the verdict was\nentirely in Collins's favour. The report noted, for one thing,\nthat the gap that had to be closed to link Europe and the United\nStates was steadily diminishing. When Collins had first proposed the project it had extended from St. Louis to Moscow.\nSince that time the Russians had determined to build a line from\nMoscow to the mouth of the Amur, and the telegraph was\nactually in operation as far as Perm, in the Urals. In the United\nStates a transcontinental line had been completed to San Francisco in October, 1861, and its extension northward to Oregon\nwas assured. \" We hold the ball of the earth in our hand,\"\nLatham declared, \" and wind upon it a network of living and\nthinking wire, till the whole is held together and bound with the\nsame wishes, projects, and interests.\"9\nCollins had incorporated in his memorial two letters of more\nthan ordinary interest. One was from Samuel Morse, who\nstated that although the project would doubtless develop its own\npeculiar problems, he could see \" no insurmountable difficulties \"\nin its way.10 The other was an enthusiastic endorsation from\nHiram Sibley, founder and president of the Western Union Telegraph Company, which had just completed the San Francisco\nline. This read in part:\u00E2\u0080\u0094\nThe cost of the line [to San Francisco] will not exceed one-half the\nlowest estimate made when the contract was awarded to me; and our men\nare pressing me hard to let them go on to Behring's strait next summer,\nand (as you say to me) \" if I had the money,\" I would go on and complete\nthe line and talk about it afterwards.\nIf the Russian government will meet us at Behring's strait, and give the\nright of way, &c, through their territory on the Pacific, we will complete\nthe line in two years, and probably in one.\n(9) Speeches of Hon. Milton S. Latham delivered in the Senate of the\nUnited States, . . . and Report from the Military Committee, on Telegraphic Communication between San Francisco and the Amoor River, . . .\nWashington, 1862, p. 29.\n(10) Ibid., p. 30. Morse to Collins, November 29,1861. 1946 The Collins Overland Telegraph. 193\nThe work is not more difficult than that we have already accomplished\nover the Rocky mountains and plains to California; and, in my opinion, the\nwhole thing is entirely practicable, and that, too, in much less time and with\nmuch less expense than is generally supposed by those most hopeful. No\nwork costing so little money was ever accomplished by man that will be so\nimportant in its results.11\nUpon this occasion the appropriation recommended was\n$100,000. Once again no money was actually voted, which is\nnot surprising, as the Civil War was raging at the time; but\nmany men in public life had become interested, and the Western\nUnion Telegraph Company had definitely entered Collins's picture. Thus, in spite of internal strife, American ambition soared.\nLatham was not alone in feeling that the moment was less\ninopportune than it seemed.\nLet this not be called an improper time to present this subject to Congress, because we are engaged in a war for our national existence, and\nbecause we are already taxing the whole energies and resources of the\nnation in a time of great peril; let us rather say that the United States is\nnot only able to suppress rebellion at home, but able also to extend her great\ncommercial and scientific power over the earth.\nSuch an enterprise as this telegraph from San Francisco to Asiatic\nRussia will only strengthen our power as a great commercial nation, and\nevidence to the world that we surrender nothing to the circumstances of\nthe hour. . . .12\nCollins's dream was, indeed, well on the way to being realized.\nOnly the possibility of a successful Atlantic cable stood in its\npath.\nThe next two years were filled with complicated negotiations.\nCollins first of all returned to Russia, and there, on May 23, 1863,\nan agreement was signed that authorized construction rjf that\npart of the overland line that would pass through Siberia and\nRussian-America. The rights granted were for a period of 33\nyears.13 On February 9, 1864, a parallel agreement was reached\n(11) Ibid., pp. 30-31. Sibley to Collins, October 16,1861.\n(12) Ibid., p. 31. Latham, a Senator from California, was at this same\ntime pressing vigorously for the establishment of a line of steamers from\nSan Francisco to Shanghai; see his comprehensive speech on this project in\nibid., pp. 2-13. This line actually came into being when the Pacific Mail\nsteamer Colorado sailed for the Orient on January 1, 1867.\n(13) Collins, Overland Explorations, p. 448. After Collins had assigned\nhis rights to the Western Union Telegraph Company, new articles of agreement, granting the privileges directly to the Company, were signed in March, 194 Corday Mackay. July\nin London, covering the portion of the line which would pass\nthrough British Columbia.14 In the meantime, Collins had formally submitted to the Western Union Telegraph Company the\nterms upon which he would be willing to assign to them his rights\nand privileges in the plan. He asked for $100,000 in paid-up\nstock, the right to subscribe to another $100,000 in stock, and a\ncash payment of $100,000 \" as compensation for eight years'\nservice in securing the grants.\"16 These terms were submitted\nto the Board on March 16, 1864, and accepted unanimously.16\nThe Western Union, on its part, undertook to build a tele-\ngrap-line from some point \" not east of Chicago \" to the mouth\nof the Amur River.17\nAbout this time Collins submitted a third and last memorial\nto Congress. This was referred to the Senate Committee on\nCommerce, which, in turn, asked for an expression of opinion\nfrom William H. Seward, Secretary of State. Two passages\nfrom Seward's reply, dealing with Collins's status, and the nature\nof the concessions for which he was asking, deserve quotation:\u00E2\u0080\u0094\n... I have, not without design, called it Mr. Collins' enterprise. It is\ntruly his, because it was he alone who conceived and projected it, and who\nhas clothed it with the substantial form which enables the three great States,\nwhose concerted action he solicits, to cause it to be put in operation. But\nin another sense it is entitled to be regarded as an enterprise of the government of the United States. During all the time that Mr. Collins has been\nengaged in maturing and developing it, and presenting it to the consideration of Russia and Great Britain, he has been acting under the instruction\nand with the approbation of the Department of State, and a knowledge of\nthat fact has not been withheld from Congress.\n1865, by Hiram Sibley (for the Western Union) and I. Tolstoy (for the\nRussian Telegraph Department). See letter, Tolstoy to the Company, August\n24, 1865, in the McNicol Collection. The friendly relations that Collins had\nestablished with the Russians shows up in the correspondence that took\nplace at this time. In 1866, when Tolstoy was made a Count for his diligence in promoting the overland telegraph, the Company at once sent off\na cordial letter of congratulation. See the copy in the McNicol Collection.\n(14) Collins, Overland Explorations, p. 448.\n(15) Reid, The Telegraph in America, p. 510-11. Collins's proposal was\nfirst formally submitted to the Western Union Company on September 28,\n1863. Ibid., p. 510. The actual terms were arranged later.\n(16) Ibid., p. 510.\n(17) Collins, Overland Explorations, p. 447. 1946 The Collins Overland Telegraph. 195\nWhat Mr. Collins asks of Congress is, the grant of a right of way across\nthe public lands, with the right to take therefrom materials necessary for\nconstructing the line; the use of a national vessel, suitably officered and\nequipped, to make surveys and soundings along the north Pacific coast,\nbeyond the limits of the United States, and to aid in prosecuting the work;\nand, finally, a stipulated compensation for the government use of the line,\nwhen it shall be constructed. If the views I have submitted are just, this\ndemand for patronage is neither unnecessary nor unreasonable.18\nThis time Collins received substantially what he asked for.\nA second edition of Collins's account of his Asiatic travels\nwas published in 1864, no doubt as part of his campaign to gain\nsupport for his great project. The text proper was left\nunchanged, but the title-page was altered, a map was inserted,\nand the history of the overland scheme was dealt with in detail\nin a 77-page appendix. The map not only indicated the route of\nthe proposed line, but included projected extensions to India,\nChina, Japan, and Australia. At the time of publication the\nRussian trans-Siberian telegraph had been completed as far as\nIrkutsk, while on this continent a line had been carried northward from San Francisco to Portland, Oregon.19\nThe work of actually organizing the undertaking was the\nnext step.\nFinancially, the arrangements were relatively simple.\nA Western Union Extension Company was formed, and its\nactivities were financed by special \" Extension Stock\" issued\nby the Western Union Telegraph Company. The cost of the\n5,000 miles of line was not expected to exceed $300 per mile, or\n$1,500,000 in all; and although the authorized capital was\n$10,000,000, consisting of 100,000 shares of $100 each, only\n20,000 of these were issued at first, and only 5 per cent, had to\nbe paid down. Western Union shareholders were given a\npreference, and they promptly took up practically the entire\nissue, which was regarded as an excellent investment.20\n(18) Seward to Zachary Chandler, Chairman of the Senate Committee\nof Commerce, May 14, 1864; quoted in Collins, Overland Explorations, pp.\n464,466.\n(19) See foot-note 5 supra.\n(20) Reid, The Telegraph in America, p. 511. For a facsimile of an\nExtension Company stock certificate see Dots and Dashes, VII., November,\n1931, p. 1. 196 Corday Mackay. July\nThe Extension Company's service was organized on a quasi-\nmilitary basis, both to improve discipline and because it was\nthought the plan would give the Company's officers more prestige\nwhen dealing with foreign and native peoples. Camp guards\nwere posted, reports were submitted, and accounts kept, more\nor less in army style. Many of the leaders of the various expeditions had had military training and experience; those who had\nnot were given appropriate honorary ranks.\nFor the post of Engineer-in-Chief, the Company chose Colonel\nCharles S. Bulkley, who had been in charge of the United States\nArmy's military telegraph system in the Department of the\nGulf. The choice was an excellent one, for Bulkley was not only\nable and experienced, but \" was universally respected and\ntrusted; and he entered his new appointment with the unbounded\nconfidence of all parties.\"21 Under him were three field superintendents, one assigned to each of the three vast segments of\nterritory through which the telegraph-line was to pass. Franklin L. Pope, of New York, one of the best-known telegraphic\nengineers of the day, who later became the partner of Thomas A.\nEdison, was given the rank of Major and appointed Chief-of-\nExplorations in British America\u00E2\u0080\u0094that is to say, in British\nColumbia. Robert Kennicott, a distinguished young explorer\nand naturalist who had added immensely to the collections of the\nSmithsonian Institution, was appointed to the corresponding\npost in Russian-America.22 Serge Abasa, a Russian, took charge\nin Siberia. Another notable figure was Captain Edmund Conway,\nwho came to British Columbia as Chief of Construction Parties.\nConditions here were different than elsewhere. For some hundreds of miles the telegraph-line would parallel such well-\nestablished travel routes as the Cariboo Road. These sections\nConway could start to build immediately, while Pope devoted his\nenergies to trail-blazing through the less-known north country.\nKennicott had stipulated that he should be permitted to enlist\na number of assistants, who could collect natural history speci-\n(21) Reid, The Telegraph in America, p: 512.\n(22) For an account of Kennicott's career, the diary of his remarkable\nexpedition to the Northwest Territories and the Yukon in 1859-62, and other\ndocuments, see James Alton James, The First Scientific Exploration of Russian America and the Purchase of Alaska, Evanston and Chicago, 1942\n(Northwestern University Studies in the Social Sciences, No. 4). 1946 The Collins Overland Telegraph. 197\nmens, and a full-fledged \" Scientific Corps,\" which even boasted\na flag of its own, took to the wilderness with the various exploring\nexpeditions. The group consisted of six young scientists and a\nvolunteer assistant. Several of the former became widely known\nin later years, notably J. T. Rothrock, W. H. Dall, and H. W.\nElliott. Frederick Whymper, the artist, joined one of the parties\nwhen it called at Victoria, and spent two years in the interior of\nAlaska.23\nBulkley was appointed in August, 1864, and immediately set\nabout the immense task of organizing and setting in motion the\nfar-flung enterprise. After completing preliminary arrangements in the East, he left New York on December 13 for San\nFrancisco, where, in January, 1865, he opened offices on Montgomery Street.24 There he pressed forward the work of engaging\na staff and devising means whereby hundreds of workmen could\nbe mustered in the wilds. To carry men, equipment, and supplies\nto their appointed places a Marine Service had to be organized,\nand from first to last the Extension Company owned or chartered\nmore than a score of ships. It had already been arranged that\nthe schooner Milton Badger and the bark Clara Bell should carry\nwire, insulators, and other telegraphic supplies from New York\nto the Pacific Coast; and Bulkley purchased a number of additional vessels in the spring of 1865, including the steamer\nGeorge S. Wright and the barks Palmetto and Golden Gate. The\nU.S.S. Shubrick was made available by the United States\n(23) In 1913, at the request of the late E. 0. S. Scholefield, then Provincial Librarian and Archivist, Dr. Rothrock described his experiences in\na lengthy letter (dated West Chester, Penn., January 11, 1913) now filed\nin the Provincial Archives. \" The pecuniary inducement offered the scientists,\" Rothrock recalled, \" was board, transportation and thirteen dollars\na month. It probably was a fair expression of the estimate placed upon\nscientific endeavor by the business end of the enterprise.\" W. H. Dall\ndescribed his part in the overland telegraph scheme briefly in the volume\nentitled Alaska and its Resources (Boston, 1870). Henry W. Elliott became\nan authority on Alaska, and in 1886 published An Arctic Province: Alaska\nand the Seal Islands; only incidental reference is made therein to the overland telegraph. Frederick Whymper's interesting Travel and Adventure in\nthe Territory of Alaska, formerly Russian America, London, 1868, describes\nhis experiences in detail. The flag of the Scientific Corps is shown in Dall,\np. 527.\n(24) George Kennan, Tent Life in Siberia, New York, 1888, p. 3. 198 Corday Mackay. July\nGovernment, while across the Pacific the steam corvette Variag\nwas placed at the disposal of the Company by the Russian\nGovernment.\nIn spite of his utmost efforts, Bulkley found it impossible to\nget the various expeditions under way as promptly as he had\nhoped. In British Columbia, as we shall see, Conway was able\nto make relatively good progress, but elsewhere the preliminary\narrangements lagged. The ships that had been assembled at\nSan Francisco were not ready for service until June, and even\nthen Bulkley still had no means of sending an advance party to\nSiberia. At this opportune moment the brig Olga, a private\ntrader, happened along, bound for Kamchatka, and Bulkley was\nable to arrange a passage in her for Major Abasa, and three\nassistants\u00E2\u0080\u0094James A. Mahood, a civil engineer, R. J. Rush, and\nGeorge Kennan, who later wrote an interesting account of the\nwork of the Asiatic Division in a volume entitled Tent Life in\nSiberia.\u00E2\u0084\u00A2\nThe Olga sailed from San Francisco on July 3. Nine days\nlater Major Kennicott and a corps of assistants left for Alaska\nin the George S. Wright and Golden Gate. Pope and Conway\nhad already reached their appointed field in \" British America.\"\nCollins's scheme was at last fairly under way.\nIt is usually said that British Columbia owed her first telegraphic connection with the outside world to the Collins Overland\nscheme; but, strictly speaking, this is not so. Before the\nExtension Company was even organized, the California State\nTelegraph Company had completed a line from San Francisco to\nPortland, and was arranging to carry it farther northward.\nHorace W. Carpentier, President of the Company, visited British\nColumbia early in 1864, and on March 1 he petitioned the Legislative Council for permission to extend this line to New Westminster. The response was prompt and favourable. Within\nten days the Council had passed and the Governor had approved\nthe ordinance known as the First Telegraph Act, 1864. This\n(25) First published in New York in 1870. In 1885, Kennan returned\nto Siberia as leader of an expedition sponsored by the Century Magazine\nto investigate the Russian penal system and penal colonies there. A series\nof articles published in the Century in 1888-90 were expanded into the two-\nvolume work entitled Siberia and the Exile System (New York, 1891). Courtesy, The Canadian Geographical Journal.\nCaptain Edmund Conway (centre) and a group of Overland Telegraph officials. Captain J. C.\nButler, who explored the Skeena and Stikine rivers in 1866, is on the extreme left. Courtesy, The Canadian Geographical Journal.\nBuckley House, Takla Lake, in 1866.\nFrom a pen-and-ink sketch in the Provincial Archives, based on a water-colour by Franklin L. Pope.\nCourtesy, The Canadian Geographical Journal.\nThe famous suspension bridge built by the Indians over the Bulkley\nRiver at Hagwilget. It was bound together with telegraph-wire left in the\nwilderness when the Overland Telegraph scheme was abondoned. 1946 The Collins Overland Telegraph. 199\ngave the California State Telegraph Company building and\noperating rights within the Colony for a period of 25 years, on\ncondition that work commenced within five months, and was\ncompleted within thirteen months, on a line that would\n\" place . . . New Westminster in telegraphic communication\nwith the United States and the Canadas. . . .\"26 Later, rights\nand Company were both alike swallowed up by the Western\nUnion; but the fact remains that the line was assured before\nthese developments occurred.\nEdmund Conway's diaries for 1864 and 1865, which were\npresented to the Provincial Archives some years ago by his\ndaughter, Miss Alice Conway, enable us to follow his movements,\nand the progress of the overland telegraph in British Columbia,\nin some detail. He first came to New Westminster in November,\n1864, and spent some weeks in friendly negotiations with\nGovernor Seymour and other officials. One result was that early\nin 1865 the Legislative Council passed the International Telegraph Ordinance, which gave to \" Perry Macdonough Collins, his\nassociates and assigns \" the right \" to survey, and . . . construct and maintain \" the section of the overland line that would\npass through British Columbia. Construction was to commence\nby January 1, 1867, and to be completed by January 1, 1870;\nthereafter New Westminster was to be kept \" in complete and\ncontinuous telegraphic communication with the whole telegraphic\nsystems of the United States and Russia. . . .\" This accom-\n(26) British Columbia, Legislative Council, An Ordinance to encourage\nthe construction of a Telegraph Line, connecting British Columbia with the\ntelegraph lines of the United States, and for other purposes. No. 9, 1864:\npassed by the Council, March 8; received Governor's assent, March 10.\nActually the rights were given to the President of the California State\nTelegraph Company \" and to his successors in office, or assigns.\" The\nOrdinance gave certain rights to Carpentier exclusively, and on the grounds\nthat this was contrary to the policy of the British Government, the Colonial\nSecretary disallowed the Act. The result was An Ordinance to amend the\n\" First Telegraph Ordinance, 1864,\" No. 9, 1865: passed by the Council,\nJanuary 30; assented to February 22. This re-enacted the original Ordinance, minus the offending clauses. Some have contended that the Colonial\nOffice's primary objective was to delay construction of a telegraph line from\nthe United States, as an overland telegraph line from Canada to British\nColumbia was under discussion at this -time. See the two Parliamentary\nreturns known as the \" Telegraph Papers \" (London, 1863 and 1864). 200 Corday Mackay. July\nplished, the builders were to be confirmed in their rights for a\nperiod of 33 years.27\nThe Extension Company hoped to have the line nearly finished\nby the beginning of the specified construction period, let alone\nthe end of it. In November, R. R. Haines, Assistant Superintendent of the California State Telegraph Company, had written\nto Governor Seymour stating that working-parties were then\nabout 10 miles north of Seattle, and that he hoped that they\nwould reach New Westminster by the middle of January. This\nhope was not fulfilled, but events nevertheless moved at a lively\npace. February saw the arrival of J. L. Pitfield, who was to be\nthe Extension Company's agent in New Westminster. He and\nConway established temporary offices in the Columbia Hotel.\nThe excitement aroused in the little city was intense, and the\nBritish Columbian referred editorially to the wondrous fact that\nNew Westminster, \" an infant city established only 6 years\nbefore amid towering trees that seemed to smile on man's puny\nefforts . . . was to be linked with the electric systems of\nAsia, Europe and North Africa.\" It was an hour of triumph,\nand the editor could not resist the temptation to have a thrust\nat the Royal City's \" jealous and grasping neighbour.\" \" We\nunderstand,\" he wrote, with obvious satisfaction, \" it is not\nin contemplation to establish a branch to Victoria.\"28\n(27) An Ordinance to encourage the construction of a line of Telegraph,\nconnecting the Telegraphs of British Columbia with the Telegraph lines of\nRussia, the United States and other Countries, and for other purposes. No.\n5 of 1865: passed by the Council, January 26; assented to February 21.\nThis Ordinance provided that all telegraph materials required for the construction or repair of the line should be admitted duty free up to January 1,\n1870. It was followed in 1866 by An Ordinance to incorporate The Western\nUnion Telegraph Company, in lieu of the Western Union Telegraph Extension Company (No. 3 of 1866: passed January 29; assented to January 31).\nAt this point the Western Union Company proper took over the rights, etc.,\nwhich had been granted to Collins and to the Extension Company.\n(28) British Columbian, February 25, 1865. Victoria was finally linked\nto the mainland by telegraph in 1866, when cables were laid between the\nSaanich Peninsula and San Juan Island, between San Juan and Lopez\nislands, and between Lopez Island and the Washington mainland. Communication was established between New Westminster and Victoria on\nApril 24, 1866. 1946 The Collins Overland Telegraph. 201\nGovernor Seymour seems to have been much interested in the\ntelegraph, and the first line actually placed in operation in\nBritish Columbia extended from the city proper to Government\nHouse, a distance of about a mile. This was completed, with\nappropriate fanfare, on March 6. On the 17th the U.S.S.\nShubrick arrived, with Colonel Bulkley on board; but the\nEngineer-in-Chief hurried on to Alaska after a stay of only one\nday. However, the Shubrick brought the cable that was to be\nlaid across the Fraser River, and Conway had already arranged\nto use Governor Seymour's steam yacht, the diminutive Leviathan, to place it in position.29 A first attempt failed, owing to\nstormy weather, but on March 21, the laying was completed\nsuccessfully. The Governor himself acted as steersman, and in\nrecognition of the international character of the event, the star-\nspangled banner floated proudly overhead. The first message\ntransmitted read as follows:\u00E2\u0080\u0094\nOpposite New Westminster,\nMarch 21st, 1865,11:45 a.m.\nTo the Editor British Columbian.\nWe have to announce that the Cable is laid and working.\nIt was laid in seven (7) minutes.\nTelegraph.so\nAnother month passed before through communication was\nfinally established with the cities to the south. Colonel Bulkley,\nwho paid a second flying visit to New Westminster on April\n11-12, missed the great event by only a few days. On April 18\nthe line to Seattle was at last in working order, but rejoicing\nwas cut short when over it came the shocking news of the\nassassination of President Lincoln, which had occurred on the\n14th.\nIt is interesting to note that Bulkley was not satisfied with\nthis southern connection. On April 22 he wrote to his old chief,\nColonel Anson Stager, General Superintendent of United States\nMilitary Telegraphs:\u00E2\u0080\u0094\n(29) The steamship Great Eastern was frequently referred to as the\nLeviathan, and the editor of the British Columbian remarked in the issue\nof March 25, 1865: \" It is rather an interesting coincidence that while the\nsubmarine cable will be laid across the Atlantic by the big Leviathan that\nacross the Fraser is about to be laid by the little Leviathan.\"\n(30) British Columbian, March 23, 1865. 202 Corday Mackay. July\nIt will be useful should you find in the future that a line from Salt Lake\ncity down Lewis River is necessary to connect the Overland telegraph. . . .\nThe California Line to New Westminster, our present connection, is\nbadly constructed and part of it through the gigantic forest growth of\nOregon and Washington; this part will ever be subject to frequent breaks.31\nConway was now free to push forward the Overland Telegraph proper. He had already spied out the land as far as Hope,\nand now set off on another expedition that carried him as far as\nLytton. On May 25, Franklin L. Pope, Chief-of-Explorations in\nBritish Columbia, arrived in New Westminster with a group of\nassistants and workmen, and on the 31st he and his party left\nfor the Interior. On June 17 the schooner Milton Badger completed her long voyage from New York, and Conway at last had\nthe wire, insulators, and other materials essential for actual\nconstruction.\nThereafter exploration, the location of routes, the clearing of\nthe right-of-way, the erection of poles, and the stringing of wires\nall proceeded apace. From New Westminster the line was to\nfollow the south bank of the Fraser River as far as Hope, and\nwire was being strung from pole to pole within 48 hours of the\narrival of the Milton Badger.32 On June 27 the river steamer\nLillooet laid the Overland Telegraph's own cable across the\nFraser,33 and thereafter at times it was possible to maintain\ncontact with some of the working parties. Building operations\nwere soon in full swing both above and below Yale. On the\nupper reaches of the line Conway opened an office at \" Cornwall's\nranch,\" a few miles from the Ashcroft of to-day, on August 2,\nand another at Clinton two days later. Lower down, the line\nwas completed and commenced working to Hope on August 17.34\nAccording to the British Columbian the first dispatch transmitted\nread as follows:\u00E2\u0080\u0094\n(31) From the copy of the letter in the McNicol Collection.\n(32) This and many of the other dates and details cited are taken from\nCaptain Conway's manuscript Diaries, in the Provincial Archives.\n(33) British Columbian, June 29, 1865. The report states that this\ncable was a short distance below that laid by the California State Telegraph\nCompany. The latter extended from Albert Crescent to Brownsville.\n(34) Edmund Conway, Diaries. 1946 The Collins Overland Telegraph. 203\nHope, B.C., August 18,1865.\nTo Mr. Grelley, Colonial Hotel, New Westminster.\nSend a bottle of champagne to the Telegraph Office to Mr.\nConway with the compliments of\nLandvoigt.35\nChampagne was apparently abundant in those days, for on\nAugust 26, when the line was completed to Yale, another request\ncame over the wire directing Mr. Grelley to deliver a bottle to\nJ. W. Pitfield, the Extension Company's New Westminster\nagent.36\nMore important than these local frivolities was the telegram\nConway received at Hope, on August 21, which informed him\nthat the latest attempt to lay an Atlantic cable had ended in\nfailure. Thus cheered on his way, Conway travelled on to Soda\nCreek, Alexandria, and Quesnelmouth. Construction gangs\nfollowed hard on his heels, and his diary records that the line\nwas completed to Quesnel at 3 p.m. on September 14, \" Great\nenthusiasm prevailing.\" The distance from New Westminster\nwas 435 miles, and Conway might well feel satisfied with his\nbrief season's work.\nFar from being content to rest on his laurels, however,\nhe turned his attention immediately to the all-important\nnorthern explorations. Here the plan of attack was threefold.\nIn Russian-America, Kennicott was to push into the interior\nfrom St. Michael, with Fort Yukon as his first objective. That\npoint reached, his parties were to push southward as far as\npossible. In British Columbia Pope was to start north from\nQuesnel, with the ultimate object of reaching Fort Yukon, if\nhe did not first make contact with some of Kennicott's men.\nFinally, Conway had been instructed to have some one explore\nthe Skeena, Nass, and Stikine rivers, both to gain some knowledge of the country through which they flowed, and with a view\nto carrying in supplies for the various survey parties that would\nbe passing through the region.\nThis last assignment Conway gave to Captain Horace\n(\" Tom \") Coffin, of the small sternwheel steamer Union. The\n(35) British Columbian, August 19,1865.\n(36) Ibid., August 29, 1865. 204 Corday Mackay. July\nchoice was a logical one, for the previous year Coffin had taken\nthe Union to the Northwest Coast on a trading cruise, and in\nthe course of his wanderings had pioneered steam navigation\non the Skeena.37 His activities in 1865 were summarized as\nfollows in Conway's report to Colonel Bulkley:\u00E2\u0080\u0094\nIn compliance with your instructions of July 22d 1865, to have the northern rivers explored and supplies taken to our interior line of explorations,\nI beg leave to report, that I started the steamer Union, in command of Capt.\nHorace Coffin to make the necessary explorations. Captain Coffin left New\nWestminster on the 30th of August 1865, entered the mouth of Skeena river\non the 15th of September. The steamer ascended the river 90 miles, at this\npoint two canoes were loaded with supplies. They succeeded in getting\nthem up to Agglegate village on the 28th of September, distance from the\nmouth of the river 216 miles.\nI enclose a list of supplies, stored at this village, they will probably be\nconsumed by Major Pope's party, as the village is within four days travel of,\nConnolly's, or Babine lake.\nThe steamer entered the mouth of Nasse river on the 9th of October and\nascended 43 miles. The party succeeded in ascending with canoes forty\nmiles above the steamer, total distance 83 miles. . . .\nCaptain Coffin considered it too late in the season to explore the Sticken,\nso he returned to New Westminster, arriving there on the 3d of November.\nI sent a full load of supplies on the steamer, thinking they might succeed in\ngetting them to Stewarts lake. These supplies are stored at Fort Simpson,\nwhere they will come handy next year. I enclose you a list, in case you\nshould need them. . . .ss-\nMajor Pope started his explorations from Quesnel on July 4.\nAt first his party numbered twenty-five, but by the time he had\nreached Fort St. James the difficulty of transporting supplies\nhad become apparent, and he reduced his force to fifteen. This\nnumber included Dr. J. T. Rothrock, the botanist, and Pope\ndecided to send him on ahead to establish winter quarters for a\nselect party of eight or ten men, while he himself looked after\nthe supply problem. Rothrock left Fort St. James on August 7,\nand after some searching chose a site at the northern end of\nTakla Lake. There, with the expert help of George Blenkinsop,\nan old Hudson's Bay man, he built Bulkley House. Heavy frosts\nstarted by the end of the month, but the buildings were ready\n(37) See Norman R. Hacking, \" Steamboating on the Fraser in the\n' Sixties,' \" British Columbia Historical Quarterly, X. (1946), p. 27.\n(38) Conway to Bulkley, December 30, 1865; in Charles S. Bulkley,\nPapers, pp. 25-6. Conway itemized the cost of the expedition, which totalled\n$2,860. 1946 The Collins Overland Telegraph. 205\nbefore winter really commenced, and Pope succeeded in laying\nin adequate supplies. In addition, he was able to examine the\nwhole of a proposed route for the telegraph from Quesnel to\nBulkley House, by way of Fort St. James and Stuart Lake, and\nto submit a detailed report, complete with map, to Conway.89\nConway himself was ready to leave Quesnel on September 20,\nand spent exactly two months on a trip that took him first to\nFort St. James and Bulkley House, and then on still farther\nnorth to Fort Connelly. This done, he returned to his headquarters in New Westminster, where he spent the next few\nmonths preparing for the resumption of construction-work in\nthe spring.\nIn San Francisco, Colonel Bulkley was similarly employed.\nAmongst other things, a thorough overhauling of the Marine\nService was necessary, and Bulkley passed a busy winter. The\nschooner Milton Badger was sold, as she had proven unsuitable\nfor the Company's work. The steamer George S. Wright, which\nhad shown herself to be a most useful little vessel, was reconditioned after a tempestuous ocean crossing from Kamchatka\nin which she had nearly gone to the bottom, taking Bulkley with\nher. The clipper ship Nightingale was purchased and made the\nflagship of the reconstituted fleet.40 The barques H. L. Rutger\nand Onward were also acquired, and the sternwheeler Mumford\nwas built specially to order on Puget Sound.\n(39) See Pope to Conway, November 6, 1865; Bulkley Papers, pp. 27-32.\nAdditional details are given in Rothrock's long letter to E. 0. S. Scholefield,\ndated January 11, 1913, in the Provincial Archives (see foot-note 23 supra).\nThe party that wintered at Bulkley House celebrated Christmas as elaborately as circumstances permitted. For an account of the festivities see\nBritish Columbian, April 11, 1866; also Corday Mackay, \" Christmas Day\u00E2\u0080\u0094\nCloudy and Cold at B.C.'s Bulkley House, 1865,\" in magazine section, Vancouver Daily Province, December 22, 1945, where much of the original\naccount is reprinted. .\n(40) The Nightingale had had a strange career. Built as a model clipper ship, intended to be placed on display at the time of the great London\nexhibition of 1851, she was sold at auction before completion, and after\nsailing as a merchantman for a time, was employed in the African slave\ntrade. Ultimately she was seized, condemned, and purchased by the United\nStates Navy Department, which used her as a guard and store ship during\nthe Civil War. See E. W. Wright (ed.), Lewis & Dryden's Marine History\nof the Pacific Northwest, Portland, Ore., 1895, p. 149. 206 Corday Mackay. July\nIt was Bulkley's hope that these and the numerous smaller\ncraft at the disposal of the Company would prevent a repetition\nof the delays that had made progress in 1865 less rapid than\nhe had expected. In Alaska results had been particularly\ndisappointing, for he had been unable to land Kennicott and his\nparty at St. Michael before September. As a result, they had\nbeen able to do little more than establish winter quarters at\nNulato, and make plans for the future. In Siberia, however,\nthough months would pass before Bulkley was aware of the fact,\nMajor Abasa and his three assistants were making phenomenal\nprogress in their preliminary reconnaissance. George Kennan,\none of the four, has left a detailed account of his adventures in\nthe volume entitled Tent Life in Siberia, and for the present\npurpose it is sufficient to note that, in the course of only seven\nmonths, and in the dead of winter, the little party actually\ncovered the immense distance from the mouth of the Amur to\nthe mouth of the Anadyr. Moreover, as Abasa reported with\nobvious and justifiable pride, \" the route of the telegraph-line\n[had been] located on the whole distance.\"41\nSo matters stood when the widely-scattered parties had\nfinished their first seasons in the field.\nThe events of 1866 can be chronicled more briefly. So far as\nBritish Columbia is concerned, Captain Conway's summary\nreport to Colonel Bulkley reviews the season's activities in\nadequate detail:\u00E2\u0080\u0094\nSan Francisco. Cal Febry 19th 1867\nCol Charles Bulkley\nEngineer-in-Chief\nW.U.T. Russian Extension\nSir\nI beg leave to lay before you a brief report of the season's work for 1866.\nIn the fall of 1865 the only route known for operations, north of Fort\nFraser, being by Fort St. James and Lake Tatla, I had six men employed\nat Quesnel during the winter, constructing large bateaux for the transportation of supplies and material from Quesnel. There were five strong,\nclinker built boats constructed, each to carry four tons. Fearing, that I\nwould not be able to hire men for the boating parties at Quesnel, I determined to engage Stekine and other Indians from the coast, at New West-\n(41) Abasa to Bulkley, April 10/March 29, 1866; in Bulkley Papers,\np. 87. 1946 The Collins Overland Telegraph. 207\nminster, and take them up the wagon road. This afterwards proved a very\nfortunate move.\nI arrived at Quesnel on the 1st of May, and succeeded, after great difficulty, in getting together 25 white men, with whom, and sixty animals, I\ncommenced work on the 14th of May, eighteen miles north of Quesnel. Owing\nto the excitement created about the Big Bend gold mines, I found it almost\nimpossible to hire men at Quesnel, which I did, by allowing them ten days\npay. On the 17th of May my force was increased by the arrival of 25\nchinamen. By the 1st of June I had 150 men; 86 in construction camp,\n26 packers with 160 animals; 38 white men and Indians transporting supplies in bateaux between Quesnel and Fort Fraser. The Fraser river being\nvery high, and the current consequently very swift, the boats had great\ndifficulty in getting up to Fort Fraser and only succeeded in making two\ntrips, when I was compelled to have the rest of our supplies brought up by\nthe trail.\nWe constructed the Telegraph road, and line to latitude 55.42 N. and\nlongitude 128.15 W. The distance from Quesnel, by the road, is computed\nat 440 miles, and by the wire 378 miles. There are fifteen stations built,\na log house, with chimney, door and windows, 25 miles apart. We built\nbridges over all small streams, that were not fordable, corduroyed swamps.\nAll hillsides too steep for animals to travel over, were graded, from 3 to\nfive feet wide. The average width of clearing the wood for the wire, is, in\nstanding timber, 20 feet; and in fallen timber, 12 feet. All underbrush and\nsmall timber is cleared to the ground, thus leaving the road fit for horses,\ntravelling at the rate of, from 30 to 50 miles per day. Double wires are\nstretched across all large rivers. Number of poles put up 9246. Boats are\nbuilt for crossing the Bulkley and Westroad Rivers.\nThe Coast party, 23 men, under command of Jas. L. Butler, left Victoria\non Steamer Mumford on July 5th; they succeeded in landing at Fort Stager\n(Skeena River) 150 miles of material and 12000 rations. They also transported to Shakesville on the Stekine river 4500 Rations, and left at the\nmouth of the Stekine over 200 miles of material, and near 20,000 Rations.\nOwing to the uncertainty of our route, and the fast approaching winter,\nwe were compelled to suspend work on the 2d of October. The party\nreturned to the Skena River, from the point they had reached beyond it,\nand came down to Fort Simpson in five flat bottomed boats, constructed at\nFort Stager. On the 18th of October the party left Fort Simpson on\nSteamers Otter and Mumford for New Westminster, where they were paid\noff during the latter part of October. The accompanying journal gives the\namount of work done each day, and the force employed. I also forward\nthe map of our route, which will describe the country in detail much better\nthan I can possibly do in a report.4^\n(42) Unfortunately the reports and maps to which reference is made in\nthis and other letters are not included in the Papers of Colonel Bulkley at\npresent available. 208 Corday Mackay. July\nIn concluding this brief report, I can assure you, that we constructed\nin every respect, a first class line, omitting nothing, that would help in\nmaking it a good working, and durable line. It runs through an extremely\nfavourable country, and is constructed in such a manner, that it can be kept\nin repair with but little difficulty, and at not a very great expense.\nI cannot speak too highly of the Officers and men employed in the\nAmerican Division during the past season, they overcame all obstacles cheerfully and willingly. Mr. Butler, commanding the coast party, deserves\ngreat credit for the energy displayed by him in transporting supplies up\nthe Skena and Stekeen Rivers. The Division Quarter Master Mr. Burrage,\ngave great satisfaction, and kept the party well supplied with provisions\nand material. The foremen, Messrs. Decker and Bradley displayed great\nenergy, and left behind them first class work.\nI am very respectfully\nYours most obedt. servant\n(Signed) E. Conway\nLate Supt American Division^\nIn addition to being superintendent of construction, Conway\nwas also given direct charge of explorations in 1866. These were\ndevoted, first, to the task of finding the best route from Fort\nFraser to the Skeena River, and, secondly, to probing the\nmysteries of the great area still farther to the north, lying\nbetween the Skeena, Nass, and Stikine rivers.\nConway seems never to have been satisfied with the Fort\nSt. James-Bulkley House-Fort Connelly route that he and Pope\nhad examined in 1865: hence the explorations from Fort Fraser.\nHe thought first of carrying the line through the Babine country,\nbut inquiries led him to believe that it would be practicable to\nbuild farther west, and carry it in an almost direct line from\nFort Fraser to Hagwilget, an Indian village on the Bulkley River\nabout 3 miles from its junction with the Skeena. In May and\nJune of 1866 two of his men went over this route carefully, and\nfound it satisfactory in every essential. Conway promptly\nadopted it, and, as the report already quoted indicates, the line\nwas completed over the whole distance before the season ended.\nHalf a century later this portion of the Overland Telegraph was\nparalleled very closely by what is now the Prince Rupert branch\nof the Canadian National Railways. From Fort Fraser (to use\nthe place-names of to-day) railroad and telegraph alike followed\n(43) Conway to Bulkley, San Francisco, February 19, 1867; Bulkley\nPapers, pp. 159-60. (Paragraphing revised; otherwise quoted verbatim.) 1946 The Collins Overland Telegraph. 209\nthe Endako River, skirted Burns Lake and Decker Lake, and\nthen followed the Bulkley to Hagwilget.44\nFrom the latter point the telegraph crossed over to the\njunction of the Skeena and Kispiox rivers; and near the present\nvillage of Kispiox the Western Union Extension crew built one of\ntheir stations, Fort Stager.46 This was as far as the line was\never placed in operation. Construction was carried about 25\nmiles up the Kispiox River (which was known for a time as the\nCollins River), but the wire simply ended in the wilderness.46\nThe northern explorations were commenced during the winter\nof 1865-66 by Pope and Rothrock, who used their winter quarters\nat Bulkley House as a sort of base camp. After two shorter trips,\nundertaken to enable him to learn more about the technique of\nwinter travel, Rothrock and two companions set out in January,\n1866, explored the country to the westward, reached the Skeena\nRiver, and descended it as far as Kitsalas before turning\nhomeward. Late in February, Pope, accompanied by George\nBlenkinsop and two Indians, left Bulkley House, determined to\nreach and descend the Stikine River. This extraordinary trip\nof some 500 miles they accomplished in 70 days, despite great\nhardships and privations. In March, Rothrock set out once more\nfrom Bulkley House, and made a prolonged journey northward.\nHis route is not known in any detail. \" When I was there,\" he\nhimself has explained, \" the country was unnamed\u00E2\u0080\u0094no one\nknew, except by conjecture, where any of the small streams went,\nfurther than that they went East or West. I had no means of\nfixing my position astronomically, except approximately and\n(44) By rail, the distance from Fort Fraser is 192 miles..\n(45) Named after General Anson Stager, under whom Bulkley had\nserved in the United States Military Telegraphs.\n(46) The route of the Overland Telegraph throughout its length is\nshown clearly on the so-called \" Trutch map,\" which was compiled in 1870,\nbut includes additions to January, 1871. The correct title is: Map of British\nColumbia to the 56th Parallel, North Latitude. Compiled and drawn at the\nLands and Works Office, Victoria, B.C., under the direction of the Honble.\nJ. W. Trutch . . . Chief Commissioner of Lands and Works and Surveyor\nGeneral. 1871. London: Edward Stanford, 1871. On this map the telegraph-line is carried up the east bank of the Kispiox for 40 miles or more;\nthen it crosses the river, and ends in a valley a few miles to the west. 210 Corday Mackay. July\ncrudely by the altitude of the pole star.\" Thutade Lake and some\nbranch of the Finlay River were the only landmarks that could\nbe identified with any certainty. Rothrock's own opinion was\nthat he probably reached a point about 70 miles E.S.E. of Dease\nLake, which would bring him very near the upper reaches of the\nStikine.47\nOther expeditions were made from Shakesville, a vanished\nvillage on the Stikine that seems to have been located a few miles\nbelow the present Glenora. Scovell, one of Conway's men, after\nbeing forced back in a first attempt, succeeded during the summer\nin reaching Kuldo, on the upper Skeena. Byrnes, a member of\nanother party, who had explored the Fort Fraser-Hagwilget\nroute, and later struck out into the country north of the Skeena,\nactually travelled 1,500 miles between April and October. \" Too\nmuch cannot be said in praise of these men,\" Conway wrote to\nColonel Bulkley, \"the hardships which they had to encounter,\nwere fearful; being compelled to pack their blankets and\nsupplies on their backs, and this through a country covered with\nunderbrush, fallen timber, swollen rivers, and other numerous\nobstacles.\"48\nIt is remarkable to find that neither in Conway's reports, nor\nin a lengthy communication addressed by Colonel Bulkley to the\nExecutive Committee of the Western Union Telegraph Company\nas late as March 1, 1867, is any reference made to the successful\nlaying of the Atlantic cable. On July 27, 1866, the steamship\nGreat Eastern had nosed into Heart's Content Harbour, Newfoundland, and her crew had brought ashore the end of a cable\nthat stretched all the way to Ireland. There is an impression\nabroad that this event led to the immediate abandonment of the\nOverland Telegraph scheme; but this is not so. Work continued\nin British Columbia until October, when it would normally have\nceased for the winter; and even then Conway sent Thomas\nElwyn to winter quarters at Shakesville, on the Stikine, with\ninstructions to \" send out small parties towards the Skeena, Take\n(47) Rothrock to Scholefield, January 11,1913. MS., Provincial Archives.\n(48) Conway to Bulkley, San Francisco, February 19, 1867; Bulkley\nPapers, p. 162. This report on the explorations covers pp. 161-2. 1946 The Collins Overland Telegraph. 211\nand Chilcat Rivers, and also towards Dease House and Yukon.\"49\nThere still remained the hope that the cable would fall silent, as\nits predecessor had done in 1858, and until time returned a\nverdict upon its reliability, the Overland project remained alive.\nIn British Columbia, it is true, it may be said to have continued to exist only in a state of suspended animation; but in\nAlaska and Siberia, where news travelled slowly, a year passed\nbefore the great enterprise was abandoned. The official decision\nto stop work was taken by the Directors of the Western Union\nCompany in March, 1867, and on March 27 William Orton,\nVice-President of the Company, wrote to Secretary of State\nSeward:\u00E2\u0080\u0094\nAll doubts concerning the capacity and efficiency of the ocean cables, are\nnow dispelled, and the work of construction on the Russian line, after an\nexpenditure of $3,000,000, has been discontinued.50\nIn his reply Seward recognized the facts of the case, and\ncontinued:\u00E2\u0080\u0094\nI would not have the Atlantic cable become dumb again if thereby I could\nimmediately secure the success of the Inter-Continental Pacific Telegraph\nenterprise which was committed to your hands. Nevertheless, I confess to\na profound disappointment in the suspension of the latter enterprise^\nThe purchase of Alaska was pending at this time, and no\ndoubt Seward was disappointed that the completed line had not\nbeen carried that far. Progress in Russian-America had, on the\nwhole, been less rapid than elsewhere. This was partly due to\nthe death of Robert Kennicott, who collapsed suddenly at Nulato\nin May, 1866. Colonel Bulkley appointed W. H. Dall as his\nsuccessor, but it was some time before word of Kennicott's death\nreached the outside world, and Dall could arrive to take over.\nAfter spending the winter at Nulato, Dall and his party started\nup the Yukon River on May 26, 1867, still blissfully ignorant of\nwhat had happened in the outside world. On June 23 they\n(49) Ibid., p. 162. It was in the course of the winter explorations in\n1866-67 that Telegraph Creek, on the Stikine River, was named. This has\nled many to assume that the Overland Telegraph actually reached the\nStikine, but this is not so. Telegraph Creek was the spot at which it was\nintended that the line should cross. It happens to be the spot at which the\nDominion Government Telegraph Line to the Yukon actually does cross the\nriver to-day.\n(50) Reid, The Telegraph in America, p. 516.\n(51) Ibid. 212 Corday Mackay. July\nreached Fort Yukon, and there saw copies of the Nor' Wester,\na journal published in the Red River Settlement, that announced\nthe successful laying of the Atlantic cable. Six days later an\nadvance party returned from a winter trip to Fort Selkirk, and\non July 8 the whole expedition left for St. Michael, where they\narrived on the 25th. There they were met with the news that\nthe Collins enterprise had been abandoned; and Frederick\nWhymper recalls that the men's feelings caused them \" to hang\nblack cloth on the telegraph-poles, and put them into mourning.\"62\nIn Siberia, actual construction of the telegraph-line was well\nstarted, but the work had been much delayed by the late arrival\nof the supply-ships. Major Abasa and his men waited weary\nmonths before the Clara Bell arrived from San Francisco in\nmid-August of 1866 with 50,000 insulators and brackets, and\nfor other essential equipment they had to await the coming of the\nPalmetto, on September 19. A third vessel, the Onward, got\nonly as far as Petropavlovsk, which meant that for immediate\npurposes she did not arrive at all.63\nNews of the success of the Atlantic cable arrived on June 1,\n1867, when the New Bedford whaler Sea Breeze entered the\nharbour of Gizhiga, the port at which most of the supplies for\nthe Siberian parties were to be delivered. Six weeks later, on\nJuly 15, the slow-moving Onward arrived with orders to cease\nwork. The summer was spent in gathering up the widely-\nscattered construction parties, and early in October the barque\nset sail for San Francisco. The last of the Overland Telegraph\nofficials to leave Siberia included two of the first to arrive\u00E2\u0080\u0094\nJames Mahood and George Kennan. They, and two companions,\ndecided to return home by way of European Russia, and they\nset out on their great overland trek soon after the Onward\ndisappeared over the horizon.64\nThe collapse of the Overland Telegraph was a severe blow\nto the Western Union Company, but it made no attempt to shirk\nthe unpleasant financial consequences. The Company issued\n(52) Wymper, Travel and Adventure in Alaska, p. 241.\n(53) .See Kennan, Tent Life in Siberia, pp. 369 et seq. A great store of\ninformation about the Siberian division of the Collins venture is to be found\nin the many letters from Major Abasa included in the Bulkley Papers.\n(54) Kennan, Tent Life in Siberia, p. 421 et seq. 1946 The Collins Overland Telegraph. 213\n$3,170,292 in bonds to redeem the Extension stock, and although\nthis meant that it was footing the bill, the market value of\nWestern Union stock did not fall. \" Some denounced this\nproceeding,\" one authority notes, \" but as the stockholders [of\nthe Extension Company] were almost wholly also holders of the\nWestern Union Company stock, it was generally acquiesced in.\"56\nCollins himself seems to have fared reasonably well financially, and to have emerged from the enterprise with a modest\ncompetence. In 1876, at the age of 63, he moved to New York,\nand took up residence in the St. Denis Hotel, in lower Manhattan.\nThere he lived for no less than twenty-five years, and during\nthat time he handled his investments so well that when he died\non January 18, 1900, at the ripe old age of 88, he left a considerable fortune. Seventeen years later his niece and heir, Kate\nCollins Brown, bequeathed the sum of $550,000 to New York\nUniversity, the income from which was to be used for scholarships in the University's College of Arts and Pure Science, and\nin the College of Engineering. In the interval Collins himself\nhad been so completely forgotten that these scholarships had\nbeen awarded annually for a decade or more before anyone\nthought of drawing attention to the ultimate source from which\nthe money came.66 To-day he still remains a forgotten man,\nalthough his world-girdling scheme is recalled now and then by\na journalist in search of a good story that has both a modern\ntouch and a romantic flavour.67\nThe fate of the hundreds of miles of telegraph line that the\nExtension Company actually constructed in British Columbia\nis not without interest. When the \" cease work \" signal was\nreceived, a blockhouse was built at the end of the line and filled\nwith equipment \" as a silent hope that the Atlantic venture might\n(55) Reid, The Telegraph in America, p. 517.\n(56) Mr. Donald McNicol seems to have been primarily responsible for\nthe effort that was made to find out something about Collins personally, and\nbring it to the attention of the University and the students receiving the\nawards. Most of the details given are taken from the sketch of Collins's\ncareer prepared by Professor Philip B. McDonald, of New York University,\nto which reference has already been made.\n(57) For a recent example see W. H. Deppermann, \" Two Cents an\nAcre,\" in North American Review, 245 (1938), pp. 126-33. This article\nwas abridged and reprinted by the Reader's Digest. 214 Corday Mackay. July\nagain result in disaster.\"58 Fort Stager was kept manned until\n1869, when John McCutcheon, the last operator there, abandoned\nthe station and left \" with thirteen large canoes loaded with\nprovisions and clothing.\"69 In the meantime the line had\nremained in active commercial operation as far as Quesnel, and\nin 1868 it had been extended to Barkerville. However, the\nWestern Union Telegraph Company took little interest in it, and\nin February, 1871, the Government of British Columbia secured\na perpetual lease of all the Company's lines that lay within the\nColony. In July of the same year British Columbia became a\nProvince of Canada, and the Dominion Government, in accordance with the terms of union, took over the lease. During the\nnext decade the line to the Cariboo was repaired and largely\nrebuilt, and various new lines and cables were added to the\nsystem, including an all-Canadian connection with Victoria.\nFinally, in September, 1880, the Government purchased all the\nWestern Union Company's property and privileges. It secured\nan extraordinary bargain, for the price paid was only $24,000,\nand the deal ended subsidies and brought in revenues that\nbetween them amounted to $25,000, even in the first years.\nBetween Quesnel and Fort Stager the line was left to go to\nwrack and ruin. W. F. (later Sir William) Butler has described\nhow he chanced upon its remains in the course of the great\njourney described in The Wild North Land:\u00E2\u0080\u0094\nCrossing the wide Nacharcole River, and continuing south for a few\nmiles, we reached a broadly cut trail which bore curious traces of past\ncivilization. Old telegraph poles stood at intervals along the forest-cleared\nopening, and rusted wires60 hung in loose festoons down from their tops, or\n(58) R. N. Young, \" Collins Overland Telegraph,\" in Telegraph and\nTelephone Age, July 1, 1922, p. 298.\n(59) Ibid. John McCutcheon later settled in the Chilliwack district,\nwhere he died relatively recently. Other long-lived survivors of the Overland Telegraph days included George Kennan, who died in 1924, and Leonard\nBright, who joined the Nightingale as a cabin boy in 1866. He was still\nalive, aged 87, in 1934.\n(60) The reference to rust recalls the fact that it is often assumed that\nthe wire used would be copper. Mr. Donald McNicol is of the opinion that\nit was 8-gauge iron wire, and notes the fact that the Indians are said to\nhave used bits of it for nails, which would scarcely have been practicable if\nthe wire had been copper. To the best of his knowledge copper-covered iron\nwire was first used in 1872, and single-strand copper wire did not come into 1946 The Collins Overland Telegraph. 215\nlay tangled amid the growing brushwood of the cleared space. A telegraph\nin the wilderness! What did it mean?\nWhen civilization once grasps the wild, lone spaces of the earth it seldom\nreleases its hold; yet here civilization had once advanced her footsteps, and\napparently shrunk back again frightened at her boldness. It was even so;\nthis trail, with its ruined wire, told of the wreck of a great enterprise.61\nThis chance encounter occurred in May of 1873. Here and\nthere in the wilderness great piles of wire, insulators, and other\nequipment survived, and may still survive. Occasionally the\nIndians made use of these materials, as, for instance, in the\nconstruction of the celebrated bridge at Hagwilget. But as\ndecade followed decade, two or three place-names, notably Telegraph Creek and the Bulkley River, became the most enduring\nsurvival of the great enterprise. The telegraph-line itself, and\nthe memory of Perry McDonough Collins, whose imagination and\ntireless effort had brought it into existence, virtually disappeared.\nCorday Mackay.\nVancouver, B.C.\nuse until 1877. See carbon copy of letter, McNicol to Professor D. W.\nHering, December 20, 1936, in McNicol Collection.\n(61) W. F. Butler, The Wild North Land, 4th edition, London, 1874, pp.\n333-4. THE OREGON TREATY: FINIS TO JOINT\nOCCUPATION.*\nFur-traders, explorers, missionaries, propagandists, pioneer\nfarmers, international diplomacy\u00E2\u0080\u0094all the influences that might\nstimulate occupation and possession are to be found in the story\nof Old Oregon. While settlement was being extended to the new\nfrontier of the Great Lakes area in Canada, and to the Mississippi River in the United States, the frontier itself, by jumping\nthe central plains, was receding to the Pacific Coast. The Oregon country and California became the new frontier in the 1840's.\nFor twenty-five years the joint occupation initiated by Great\nBritain and the United States in 1818 had worked successfully in\nOregon. The arrangement was satisfactory so long as the actual\noccupants of the area were neither numerous nor permanent, but\nonly transient fur-traders of either nationality. Almost the only\npermanent residents were the officials of the Hudson's Bay Company, whose superintendent, Dr. John McLoughlin, had his headquarters at Fort Vancouver, on the Columbia River. From that\nvantage point he dispensed high, low, and middle justice to\nIndian and fur-trader alike from Alaska to California. His\neasy-going existence had been interrupted in the mid-thirties by\nthe arrival from the Eastern United States of Catholic and\nProtestant missionaries bent on converting the Indians. Their\nspiritual message made scant impression on the unregenerate\nnatives, but their letters home describing the country stirred in\nthe restless citizenry of the Atlantic and trans-Appalachian\nstates a desire to enter in and to possess such a goodly land.\nThere were, it is true, millions of unsettled acres in the Louisiana\nPurchase nearer home; but this the prospective settlers disdained as a desert country because of its treeless nature. There\nwas presented to the world then, in the early forties, the strange\nspectacle of thousands of people travelling painfully 2,000 miles\n* Prize essay in the contest sponsored by the British Columbia Historical\nAssociation in commemoration of the centenary of the signing of the Oregon\nTreaty, June 15, 1846.\nBritish Columbia Historical Quarterly, Vol. X., No. 3.\n217 218 Robert E. Cail. July\nacross a fair and fertile plain to make their homes in the wilderness beyond.1\nBut the long road to Oregon was known many years before\nthe settlers began to march. The fur-traders had found it in the\nearly twenties, and had used it year after year in their journeys\nto and fro between Oregon and St. Louis, their base of supply.\nIn 1842 the United States Government had sent out John C.\nFremont to survey and map the route. His map furnished the\nmigrating farmers with such guidance as they needed over the\nwell-known trail up the Platte River, through South Pass, and\ndown the Snake and Columbia rivers to the Promised Land\nbeyond.\nWith the advent of settlers, and as the forest gave way to the\nfarm and the market town, boundary-lines became necessary.\nJoint occupation became impracticable. When the rivalries of\ntrading companies pushing into the wilderness are followed by\nsettlement there ensues a life-and-death struggle between fur-\ntraders and settlers. Canadian and United States development\nhas been characterized by such struggles. The fur trade must\ngive way to law and order, and to a conventionalized society with\nits rules and recognized magistrates; and with the emergence of\nthese, people begin to think in terms of government. Politics\nenters upon the scene, bringing to the fore a new set of interests,\nnot least of which are sentiment, prestige, and nationalism. The\nincoming American settlers in Oregon wanted the form of government to which they had been accustomed in the Eastern\nUnited States. With characteristic frontier disdain of international agreements, they took possession of the Willamette\nValley, established a provisional government in 1843, and called\non their country for support. Such was the situation in Oregon\nin 1846, the year destined to be so fateful in the history of the\nPacific Coast from Alaska to Mexico.\nNo other phase of the history of the Pacific Northwest has\nbeen investigated more thoroughly by historians than the Oregon boundary dispute. Weighty tomes, scholarly articles, and\nappealing stories in seemingly unlimited quantity, have been\nwritten on the subject, some amusing and many authoritative,\n(1) E. O. S. Scholefield, British Columbia from the eafliest times to the\npresent, Vancouver, 1914,1., p. 446. 1946 The Oregon Treaty. 219\nsome pro-British and many pro-American. The claims of each\nprotagonist have been investigated and interpreted by sincere\nand painstaking scholars who have presented their evidence as\nimpartially as is humanly possible. In particular, to Dr. Frederick Merk must go credit for much intensive research, which he\nhas presented in a series of admirable articles written over the\ncourse of three decades. From the weight of evidence that has\nbeen compiled, it would appear that a discussion of claims, with\nintent to justify one or the other side, is not only difficult but\nalso useless. It would be an academic investigation, the conclusions of which could not but be influenced by personal opinion.\nSo numerous and conflicting were the claims, and so inextricably\nbound were they to 19th century Imperialism and sectional politics, that all that may be attempted profitably by the student of\nthe problem is a presentation of claims to the disputed area in\nthe light of the Treaty concluding the controversy, and in relation to the effect upon subsequent history of the Pacific Northwest.. Whose claims were the more valid is a matter of small\nmoment now. Speculations as to the \" if's \" of history are entertaining and diverting but neither profitable nor constructive.\nThe paramount questions then, are rather why the decision\nformulated in 1846 was favourable to one country and not to the\nother, what cast the decision in that country's favour, and what\nthe effect has been upon the subsequent social, political, and\neconomic development of the area.\nWhen the fate of Old Oregon became a matter of international\nimportance, involving the immediate prospect of war, the claims\"\nto the disputed territory were investigated in full both by Great\nBritain and by the United States. Every shred of supporting\nevidence was advanced by Lord Aberdeen, the British Foreign\nSecretary, and by James Buchanan, the American Secretary of\nState. These claims will be briefly summarized; briefly, because\nthey warrant no lengthy consideration. When the Treaty was\nfinally signed on June 15, 1846, its decision was not contingent\nupon any superiority of claims. Although the Conventions of\n1818 and 1826 had left the territory west of the Rocky Mountains open to both nations, the final settlement was not in the\nleast affected by them. Neither prior discovery, superior exploitation, nor more advanced settlement gave the area to the United 220 Robert E. Cail. July\nStates practically on her own terms. This was brought about by\na combination of national bluff in America and famine in Ireland.\nBy means of the successful campaign slogan of \" 54\u00C2\u00B0 40' or\nfight,\" adopted by the belligerent President Polk, he was eminently successful in arousing to fever pitch public interest in the\n\" re-occupation of .Oregon.\" By so doing, he tipped the scales in\nfavour of conciliation in England. Polk's superior diplomacy,\nor bluff, triumphed over Sir Robert Peel's party politics.\nThroughout the 19th century, from the Treaty of Ghent in 1814,\nthrough the \" roaring forties \" and the period of Manifest Destiny in the United States, and down to the Spanish-American\nWar that closed the century, Anglo-American relations, though\noften dangerously strained, remained peaceful. It can scarcely\nbe disputed, however, that this was due more to a conscious\neffort on the part of England to avoid war, than it was to the\ndesire of the United States to preserve peace. This year of 1846,\nwhich Bernard De Voto has termed the Year of Decision,2 was\nan obstacle in the path of United States nationalism, which had\ntaken to itself the sobriquet of Manifest Destiny, and which was\ncapitalized upon by the State Department in Washington, ever\non the alert to follow economic penetration by political dominion.\nSuch was the policy followed in Oregon.\nIn the apportionment of North America, the Pacific slope,\nlike the eastern portion of the continent, was a confusion of\noverlapping claims based on desultory explorations and an indefinite and uncertain occupancy. There is agreement among historians now that the claims of both the United States and Great\nBritain to all of the area under dispute\u00E2\u0080\u0094the land lying between\nthe Columbia River and the 54th parallel\u00E2\u0080\u0094were \" extravagant\nand unsound.\"3 \" Neither nation,\" Dr. Keenleyside says, \" had\na perfect, or even a strong, case.\"4 Behind the controversy lay\na tangle of claims based on the activities of both sides in exploration and occupation. The voyages of Cook and Vancouver, the\nsurveys of the Columbia River made by Captain Gray and Lieutenant Broughton, the expeditions of Mackenzie and Lewis and\n(2) Bernard A. De Voto, Year of Decision, 1846, New York, 1943, passim.\n(3) F. H. Soward, \" President Polk and the Canadian Frontier,\" in\nCanadian Historical Association, Annual Report, 1930, p. 71.\n(4) H. L. Keenleyside, Canada and the United States, New York, 1929,\np. 205. 1946 The Oregon Treaty. 221\nClark, the activities of the Pacific Fur and the North West companies, were all advanced as justifying title to the whole area.\nThe situation was further complicated by Russian and Spanish\nclaims. These were soon defined when the treaty of 1819\nbetween Spain and the United States placed the northern limit\nof Spanish claims at the 42nd parallel, and when Russia, by\ntreaties with the United States in 1824 and with Great Britain\nthe following year, agreed to stay north of 54\u00C2\u00B0 40'. But even\nthese agreements, which reduced the number of potential rivals,\nadded new complexities to the claims of the two who remained.\nA further complication was created by the question of\nAstoria. This post, which Astor had established at the mouth of\nthe Columbia River in 1811, had fallen victim to the vicissitudes\nof the War of 1812. Rather than see it captured without recompense, Astor's local representative had prudently sold out to the\nNorth West Company. Nonetheless, a British naval commander\nhad taken formal occupation after the post had changed hands,\nand this action, according to the American view, brought it\nwithin scope of the clause of the Treaty of Ghent which provided\nfor a mutual return of conquests. An expedition was sent to\neffect a symbolic reoccupation in 1817, and Castlereagh, the\nBritish Foreign Secretary, while protesting against the mode of\nprocedure, acknowledged the validity of the American contention. In 1826 Canning was to regret the action of his predecessor6 because the event added strength to American claims in\nthe Oregon region.\nSo the stage was set for one of the greatest dramas in the\nhistory of America, a determined contest between Great Britain,\nwhich agreed with Sir Alexander Mackenzie, who in 1801 was\nmoved to declare that wherever the northwestern boundary-line\nshould strike the Mississippi, \" it . . . must be continued\nWest, till it terminates in the Pacific Ocean, to the South of the\nColumbia; \"6 and the United States, whose most fiery citizens\n(5) A. S. Morton, A History of the Canadian West to 1871, London,\n1939, p. 734. A confidential memorandum prepared by H. U. Addington\nfor Canning said May 2, 1846: \" That retrocession was in fact merely a\nmatter of form: the fort was delivered up on paper, but retained possession\nof by the British, in whose hands it has remained ever since.\"\n(6) Alexander Mackenzie, Voyages . . . to the Frozen and Pacific\nOceans, London, 1801, p. 399. 222 Robert E. Cail. July\nshouted \" 54\u00C2\u00B0 40' or fight,\" while others declared that the line of\n49\u00C2\u00B0 would be a satisfactory boundary. At a number of times\nduring the long-drawn-out controversy Great Britain might have\nhad all the territory above 49\u00C2\u00B0, but her statesmen were unwilling\nto yield what they thought was the better part of the territory, a\npart which they claimed tenaciously.\nA proper analysis of the subject necessitates a survey of the\narea at stake. It was not such an extensive territory as at first\nsight it would seem. It appeared as though the whole of the\nOregon country was at issue, the vast domain extending from\nthe Rocky Mountains to the sea and from California to Alaska.\nBut the area about which the dispute really centred was the comparatively limited area lying between the Columbia River and\nthe 49th parallel, the area now constituting the central and\nwestern thirds of the State of Washington.\nThe British looked upon the Columbia River as an essential\nartery of the fur trade and a vital outlet for the whole trans-\nmontane region. The Americans were determined to secure possession of the Straits of Juan de Fuca, not so much because of\nthe value of the intervening territory as because the area of\nPuget Sound offered the only good harbours north of San Francisco. In fact, had San Francisco been in American possession\nat the time, it is possible that the furore over Oregon might not\nhave been so great. Britain rejected the suggestion that the\n49th parallel be extended to the Pacific, and the United States\nrefused to concede the Columbia River as the boundary. As a\nresult the final settlement was left in abeyance, and the Convention of 1818 provided for joint occupation for a period of ten\nyears.7 Negotiations were renewed in 1826, following the elim-\n(7) Canada, Department of External Affairs, Treaties and Agreements\naffecting Canada in force between His Majesty and the United States of\nAmerica, 1814-1925, Ottawa, 1927, p. 16. Article III. reads:\u00E2\u0080\u0094\n\" It is agreed that any country that may be claimed by either party on\nthe Northwest coast of America, westward of the Stoney Mountains, shall,\ntogether with its Harbours, Bays and Creeks, and the navigation of all\nrivers within the same, be free and open for the term of ten years from the\ndate of the signature of the Present Convention, to the Vessels, Citizens\nand Subjects of the two powers: it being well understood, that this agreement is not to be construed to the prejudice of any claim which either of\nthe two High Contracting Powers may have to any part of the said Country,\nnor shall it be taken to affect the claims of any other Power or State to any 1946 The Oregon Treaty. 223\nination of Russia and Spain. But neither side would recede\nfrom its territorial claims, and the offer of the United States to\nconcede free navigation of the Columbia was no more acceptable\nthan the offer by Great Britain of a harbour on the Straits. In\n1827 the arrangements for joint occupation were in consequence\nextended, this time without limit, but with the provision that\nthey could be abrogated by either side on twelve months' notice.\nThis may have been, a play for time on the part of the American\nGovernment in order to populate the country.\nThe provisional arrangements did in the end work to the\nadvantage of the United States, as they had hoped. Although at\nthis period it was the British alone who were in effective occupation of the disputed area, that occupation was represented only\nby the Hudson's Bay Company. There was little immediate\nprospect of a more substantial settlement from British territory\nfarther east. The Hudson's Bay Company favoured agricultural\nestablishments near the posts for the sake of supplies, and when\nthe problem of more extensive occupation became pressing some\nefforts were made to promote a pioneer movement from the Red\nRiver settlement. But there was no such population surplus\navailable as that which was pushing the American frontier of\nsettlement steadily westward, and which was by that time flowing\nover the Rockies to claim the Pacific Coast.\nThis advance was powerfully assisted by the attitude of the\nChief Factor of the Hudson's Bay Company in the Columbia\nDistrict. Of all the Scotsmen who lifted the fur trade to its\ndays of greatness none was more remarkable that Dr. John\nMcLoughlin, the \" White Eagle \" to the Indian and the \" King of\nOld Oregon \" to the settler. For twenty years he ruled his vast\ndomain, managing the widespread activities of the fur trade,\nwhich included raising stock and growing grain as well as\ntrapping. His remarkable personality made him the unquestioned authority around which life in Old Oregon revolved.\nBut his virtual sovereignty, accepted by the community over\nwhich he had charge, could not long survive an influx of settler\nment. He himself recognized the fertility of Oregon and the\ninevitability of eventual occupation of the land. Before long his\npart of the said Country, the only object of the High Contracting Parties, in\nthat respect, being to prevent disputes and differences amongst themselves.\" 224 Robert E. Cail. July\nfears were confirmed. The American settler with his plough\nwas following the footsteps of the profit-seeking trader who had\nfirst exploited the wilderness. In this phase the missionaries\nplayed the leading role as pioneers.\nThe first arrivals were the Methodists in 1834, intent on\nbringing spiritual enlightenment to the Indians. They were\nfollowed within a year by the Presbyterians. Their religious\nactivities were not spectacular; their plaints were those of all\nmissionaries. Braves who were converted during the tedious\nwinter tended to backslide when spring came. Indian children\nadopted by the missionaries tended to die, with Christian resignation, no doubt, but with unhappy frequency. But in more\nmundane activities the talents of the newcomers found more\nsuccessful employment. The Methodists were soon impressed\nwith the prospects of the Willamette Valley, directed there on\nthe excellent advice of Dr. McLoughlin. They abandoned active\npreaching and devoted themselves to land promotion. Their\nglowing descriptions found an audience when the depression of\n1837 moved some of the restless and discontented on the old\nfrontier to try their fortunes farther west. In 1839 a shipload\nof settlers came out by way of Cape Horn. An overland party\nin 1840 heralded the beginning of a new migration. Three years\nlater the first large company made the overland journey from\nMissouri; a short while later other pilgrims combined a land and\nsea trip through the Panama. \" The Plains over, the Isthmus\nacross, or the Horn around ? \" became the query asked of each\nnew arrival. By the end of 1843 some 400 settlers had established themselves, chiefly along the Willamette. In that year a\ndefinite movement got under way which brought an increasing\nflood of immigrants, whose total was over 10,000 by 1848.\nNo sooner had a compact settlement developed on the Willamette than the settlers began thinking in terms of self-government\nand self-protection. As their dependence on the Hudson's Bay\nCompany decreased their aggressiveness grew. The result was\nthe provisional government, formed at Champoeg in 1843, by\nwhich the Americans formed a compact for mutual protection\nand to secure peace and prosperity among themselves. For the\nsake of safety McLoughlin thought he must co-operate with that\nbody. His action was interpreted in a false light by his Com- 1946 The Oregon Treaty. ' 225\npany, but he felt that to maintain peace and to secure order such\naction was best until the two governments could settle the question of the boundary. He tried to avoid compromising British\nclaims to the Columbia River boundary by keeping the settlers\nsouth of the river. Any settlement meant danger, and recognition of the provisional government seriously weakened the\nBritish position. McLoughlin argued that any other course\nwould precipitate a storm to which the British must yield or be\nprepared to resist by force. But the Hudson's Bay Company\nwas only too well aware that the territory in any case was about\nto slip from its grasp. The American settlers were now making\nvigorous representations to Washington, and sentiment throughout the country had been aroused to the point where the possession of Oregon had become a national issue.\nIt was now clear that affairs in Oregon were approaching a\ncrisis. The British, seeing the trend toward agricultural economy, realized that the fur trade was doomed and that they could\nonly hold the Columbia Valley by following the American\nexample. Dr. McLoughlin, though he had been cordial in his\ntreatment of the American settlers, quickly grasped the inexorable, and urged upon the British Government the adoption of a\ncolonizing policy, but the aid he sought was refused. Owing\npartly to this disappointment, partly to a division of his authority in the Columbia Department, and partly to personal animosity\nto George Simpson, his superior in the Company, he resigned the\nleadership he had so honourably held, letting the drift of Western\nlife pursue its own course.\nSensing battle in the air, both Americans and British opened\nthe fray with skirmishes. Since there was no established\nauthority to make land grants and to keep order, they engaged\nin bitter contests over titles and breaches of the peace, each side\naccusing the other of making fraudulent entries, of selling firearms and whisky to the Indians, and undercutting in the fur\nmarket. Desirous of bringing the whole region under their\ncontrol, and chafing under the monopoly enjoyed by the Hudson's\nBay Company, Englishmen on the ground requested their home\ngovernment in London to unite the Oregon country with Canada.\nWith equal force the pioneer Americans in Oregon urged Wash- 226 Robert E. Cail. July\nington to settle the issue by giving them self-government and\nassuring them of protection.\nUp to this point the issue was of a purely local nature. The\nsettlers on the American side of the river and the Hudson's Bay\nmen on the northern shore bandied words and brandished clubs,\nand each group examined its own claims, forwarding as many as\ncould be substantiated, and a few that could not, to their respective governments. But with the presidential election of 1844 the\ncontroversy assumed international importance, involving threats\nof war. The Democratic Party's platform, drawn up at the\nparty convention in Baltimore, and on which James K. Polk was\nelected President, ended with this resolution:\u00E2\u0080\u0094\n. . . That our title to the whole of the territory of Oregon is clear and\nunquestionable; that no portion of the same ought to be surrendered to\nEngland or any other power, and that the re-occupation of Oregon and the\nre-annexation of Texas at the earliest practicable period are great American\nmeasures which this convention recommends to the cordial support of the\nDemocracy of the Union.3\nThe Oregon debates in Congress, brief though they were,\nwere full of language uncomplimentary to the British, which\nJohn Bull found wounding to his pride. In the person of the\nPrime Minister, Sir Robert Peel, John Bull swelled with hardly\nsuppressed anger and professed to believe the situation serious.9\nClearly his government was faced by an American democracy\nrecently victorious at the polls, a democracy which was inaugurating its return to office with a vigorous twist of the British\nlion's tail. Then came the new President's assertion, in his\ninaugural address of March 4, 1845, that:\u00E2\u0080\u0094\nNor will it become in a less degree my duty to assert and maintain by all\nconstitutional means the right of the United States to that portion of our\nterritory which lies beyond the Rocky Mountains. Our title to the country\n' of Oregon is \" clear and unquestionable,\" and already are our people preparing to perfect that title by occupying it with their wives and children.\n... To us belongs the duty of protecting them. . . .10\n(8) Scholefield, British Columbia, I., p. 448.\n(9) T. P. Martin, \" Free Trade and the Oregon Question,\" in Facts and\nFactors in Economic History, Cambridge, Mass., 1932, p. 483n. Sir Samuel\nO'Malley proposed, on March 1, to take over a large body of Irish and hold\nthe Oregon country.\n(10) James D. Richardson, A Compilation of the Messages and Papers\nof the Presidents, 1789-1897, Washington, 1897, IV., p. 381. 1946 The Oregon Treaty. 227\nFrom this point on the issue becomes clouded in a maze of\nproposals and rejections, diplomatic messages, and vituperation.\nHad Great Britain not had what her Government under Sir\nRobert Peel considering more pressing problems to settle; had\nthe Government not had to rely upon Whig support; or had\nthere not been an advocate of conciliation, in the person of Lord\nAberdeen, in the Foreign Office, war would probably have been\nthe outcome.\nThe thread of British party politics, discernible in the fabric\nof American history at many points, has woven discord more\nfrequently than harmony. Twice it has produced war. It came\nnear to doing so in the Oregon controversy. It was the dread of\nparty clamour that induced the British Government to postpone\na settlement until passions in the United States had been aroused\nalmost to the point of explosion. Because of a distorted Opposition charge of \" capitulation,\" as applied to the Webster-\nAshburton award of 1842, the British Government was restrained from agreeing to a capitulation that was not only real\nbut also necessary in Oregon.\nFor more than twenty-five years, and through five negotiations, British Governments had resisted American pretensions to\nthe triangle on the ground of the superiority of the British title\nto it. To descend from this height was not easy. Since the\nearlier negotiations the triangle had been occupied by British\nsubjects in considerable numbers\u00E2\u0080\u0094servants of the Hudson's Bay\nCompany. Practically no Americans were settled there\u00E2\u0080\u0094none\nso far as Lord Aberdeen knew. If, in diplomacy, possession was\nnine points of the law, the triangle was already British. To give\nit up, to retreat from the Columbia River boundary, was to abandon British vested interests and to expatriate British subjects.\nIt was to retreat from the boundary of British prestige.\nLord Aberdeen, the Secretary of Foreign Affairs in the Conservative Government of Peel, was eager for a pacific adjustment\nof all outstanding differences with the United States. Conciliatory and peace-loving, he saw nothing within the triangle that\nwas worth the risk of war. Of the territory itself he had a low\nopinion; he was well aware that the Columbia River could never\nbe an outlet for Western Canada to the sea, and he recognized\nthe essential reasonableness of the American demand for a share 228 Robert E. Cail. July\nin the harbours about the 49th parallel. Personally, he was willing as early as March, 1844, to settle the dispute on the basis of\nthat parallel to the sea.\nBy December of 1845 it had been proven to the British Government that failure to compromise in external matters was\nunprofitable, with the result that by spring party politics were\nset aside pro tern in order that the dispute be settled. Polk, with\nhis campaign cry of \" 54\u00C2\u00B0 40' or fight,\" was not to be intimidated.\nNot even the Southern senators, who had no interest in the\nextension of free soil into Oregon, could have stopped Polk. The\nsituation in England was such that conciliation and concession\ncould not but triumph. In the autumn of 1845 three major\ncrises faced the British Government, the least of which was the\nOregon question. There was a harvest shortage of seemingly\nfamine proportions. There was a Corn Law conflict of revolutionary intensity. Some writers11 have seen in these domestic\nproblems the reason for Britain's conciliatory attitude, but Dr.\nMerk has disproved adequately such a solution.12 Merk's concluding remark is: \" The thesis of the beneficent intervention of\nthe bill [i.e., the Anti-Corn Law bill, which removed the tariff\nrestrictions on grain imported, designed to appease the Middle\nWesterner on the Oregon question by opening British markets to\ntheir wheat] in the American crisis ... is, in truth, the\nserving up of contemporary propaganda as History.\"\nThe free-trade movement in England may not have influenced\ndirectly the settlement of the problem in Oregon, but it did contribute its share. It did so by removing political obstacles to a\npolicy of concession. In earlier negotiations British Governments had rejected again and again the proposal made by the\nAmerican Government to divide Oregon by a line drawn along\nthe 49th parallel to the sea. Lord Aberdeen regarded this line\nas a reasonable basis of partition. As early as March, 1844, he\nhad been willing to accept it, stopping it short only at the coast\n.so as not to sever Vancouver Island. The cabinet, however, was\nless pliant. The territory between the 49th parallel and the\n(11) See St. G. L. Sioussat, \"James Buchanan,\" in S. F. Bemis (ed.),\nThe American Secretaries of State and their Diplomacy, New York, 1928,\nV.; and T. P. Martin, op. cit., pp. 470-492.\n(12) F. Merk, \"The British Corn Crisis and the Oregon Treaty,\" in\nAgricultural History, VIII. (1934), pp. 95-123. 1946 The Oregon Treaty. 229\nColumbia River, for which British Governments had held out,\nhad become steadily more British since the first negotiations, as\na result of the Hudson's Bay Company's occupation. A government surrendering it to the United States under such circumstances exposed itself to the Opposition charge of having abandoned British pride and honour. As Merk says, the chief\nobstacle to an amicable adjustment of the Oregon controversy\nduring the critical years of 1845-46 was this political hazard.\nThe Anti-Corn Law crusade served to lessen this hazard. It\ndid so by releasing in England a spirit of international conciliation. The free-trade doctrine was a gospel of peace. Its postulates were international good-will and the dependence of nations\nupon each other. The leaders of the Anti-Corn Law League,\npowerful in England, were conspicuous internationalists,\nfriendly in particular toward the United States. Their contention was that the repeal of the Corn Laws would result in a\npermanent bond of friendship between the United States and\nEngland by means of trade. America would feed England, England would clothe America. In the Oregon crisis these leaders\nturned the militant fervour of a triumphant crusade into channels of Anglo-American conciliation.\nA more direct contribution of the Anti-Corn Law crusade to\nthe peaceful adjustment of the Oregon question was the realignment of British political parties it produced in the winter of\n1845-46. The Conservatives, under Peel, managed to consolidate their ranks sufficiently to abolish the Corn Laws in face of\nembittered opposition from the Conservative party. In the cabinet crisis the Whigs had been won over to a policy of conciliation\nin Oregon. Free trade was the means by which belligerence\nover the Oregon question was turned into a policy of concession.\nPresident Polk suspected that England had little desire to\nfight for Oregon; and, fortified by that conviction, he played his\ncards skilfully and successfully. His Government renewed the\nAmerican offer of the 49th parallel as the boundary to the Pacific,\nwith the concession of a free port on the tip of Vancouver\nIsland. When this was rejected as \" inconsistent with fairness\nand equity and with the expectations of the British government \"\nthe proposition was specifically withdrawn; notice was given of\nthe termination of the agreement on joint occupation; a British 230 Robert E. Cail. July\nsuggestion of mediation was refused, and the United States\nembarked on preparations which seemed convincing proof of a\nreadiness for war.\nBritain, too, was taking military measures, but purely for\npurposes of defence. War with the United States would endanger not only Oregon, but also Canada, which would inevitably\nbecome the main object of attack, and the stakes were not worth\nsuch a major risk. The British Government decided on yet\nanother surrender, modified only by certain limited concessions\non the part of the United States. One was the acceptance of the\nStraits of Juan de Fuca as the final stretch of the boundary, thus\nleaving the whole of Vancouver Island to the British. Another\nwas the concession of the navigation of the Columbia to the\nHudson's Bay Company, together with a clause which preserved\nthe proprietary rights of the Company and of other British subjects south of the new boundary. Although the actual definition\nof the channel through the Straits was to remain a matter of\ndispute until 1872, the signing of the Treaty on June 15, 1846,\nmarked finis to joint occupation.13\nThe most amazing aspect of the entire settlement is that,\naudacious as Polk's policies seemed, and fearful as the American\npeople were of the consequences, there was in reality so little that\nstood in the way of the President's accomplishing his purpose.\nThe great fear of the Americans in Oregon, as well as the country\ngenerally, was that England would not be willing to give up any\nof the territory north of the Columbia River on which she had\ninsisted for three decades. Joseph Schafer says that it is certain\nthat Canning's attitude of 1824, which was the policy of the Government from that time on, \" would infallibly have brought on a\n(13) Although virtually completing the definition of the boundary between Canada and the United States, the Treaty unfortunately contained\nthe following ambiguity, largely due to the ignorance of the geography\ninvolved on the part of the signatories. The Treaty said the boundary-line\nwas to pass down the channel of the Straits, from the parallel of 49\u00C2\u00B0 to the\nsouth of Vancouver Island, and so to the open Pacific. The exact wording\nof the agreement was: \"... to the middle of the channel which separates\nthe continent from Vancouver's Island, and thence southerly to the middle\nof the said channel, and of Fuca's Straits, to the Pacific Ocean.\" Here were\nthe seeds of future dissension, as there were two channels that would have\nanswered the letter of the agreement. 1946 The Oregon Treaty. 231\nwar with the United States had not such a calamity been averted\nby the more temperate statesmanship of Sir Robert Peel and\nLord Aberdeen.\"14 Edward Everett, American Minister in London when Peel's administration began, and who remained there\nuntil the summer of 1845, expressed in a series of dispatches\nduring that time his conviction that the British Government was\ndisposed to a friendly settlement of the Oregon question on reasonable terms. Everett's idea of what would be reasonable is\nalmost exactly expressed by the treaty as finally concluded. It is\nnow known that the British Government did send a secret military expedition to Oregon under Lieutenants Warre and\nVavasour, in 1845-46,\nto examine and report on all existing British posts, to ascertain and report\nif they be of a nature to resist any sudden attack, or whether they could be\nmade so in a short space of time. . . .15\nThe reports of these men were such as to make the defence of\nthe country look exceedingly difficult. The interest of both\ncountries in their new policy of free trade, which, if persisted in,\nwould cement their destinies, stimulated the friendly feeling of\nAberdeen and Peel for the United States. It was further the\nwell-known attitude of England at this period to be averse to\ncolonial enterprise. It must also be remembered that between\n1834 and 1846 Great Britain had trouble elsewhere, especially in\nCanada, which during 1837-38 was in a state of open rebellion.\nDoubtless this factor contributed no small share to Britain's\napathy regarding further acquisitions of territory in North\nAmerica. The fact that there were many more Americans in\nthe Oregon country south of the Columbia than there were\nBritish, giving to the former a great advantage in the event of a\nconflagration, doubtless hastened a settlement on the basis of\nmutual concessions.\nThe Treaty is of more than passing interest. It marked\nthe finale of a struggle which had opened in colonial times; it\ndetermined the fate of the Pacific Coast of North America; it\ndetermined the nature of the future development in the disputed\n(14) Joseph Schafer, \" The British Attitude towards the Oregon Question, 1815-46,\" in American Historical Review, XVI. (1910-11), p. 278. \u00E2\u0080\u00A2\n(15) Joseph Schafer (ed.), \"Documents relative to Warre and Vavasour's Military Reconnaissance in Oregon, 1845\u00E2\u0080\u009446,\" in Oregon Historical\nQuarterly, X. (1909), p. 23. 232 Robert E. Cail. July\nregion; and for Canada as a whole it had very important and\nlasting consequences.\nFrom the beginning of British interest in North America in\nthe 17th century, English merchants had relied upon the fur\ntrade as an unfailing source of profits, and in the protection of\nthat interest they had again and again brought pressure to bear\non the policy of their government. They it was who had been\ninstrumental in securing the momentous decree of 1763 which\nshut the gates of the hinterland upon American squatters.\nDefeated by the Revolution, they moved the seat of their Empire\nwestward, and in the War of 1812, made the fur trade once more\nan issue. On one thing both the English and the Indians agreed\n\u00E2\u0080\u0094the fur-bearing animals of the wilderness must be protected\nfrom the soil-tilling pioneers of the United States. But they\nwere banded together in a fight against fate. Though the second\nwar for American independence culminated in a peace that promised a respite, it merely transferred to diplomacy the old battle\nbetween.resolute farmers and the British fur-traders supported\nby Indian allies, and as the American frontier advanced, exterminating the fur-bearing animals,, the clash of these contending\nforces was pushed onwards until it reached the Pacific Northwest. There, at the water's edge, in the Valley of the Columbia\nRiver where the British Hudson's Bay Company had its outpost,\nthe long struggle ended. T. C. Elliott summarizes the situation\nwhen he says:\u00E2\u0080\u0094\nThus we find that it was the prime beaver skin of the Columbia river basin\nin its abundance which attracted the attention of both England and America\nto Oregon; the symbol of the pound sterling and American dollar preceded\nboth the flag and the cross in both discovery, and exploitation. And the\npurely commercial interests involved also undoubtedly occasioned the delay\nin the final determination of the dispute by means of the treaties of joint\npolicy.16-\nAlthough in 1846 there were only eight Americans actually\nresiding in the disputed area, and no commercial activities, the\nthousands of American settlers in the area immediately to the\nsouth made a positive contribution to the boundary settlement.\nOwing to their presence, George Simpson was led to order the\nremoval of the Hudson's Bay Company's main depot from Fort\n(16) T. C. Elliott, \" The Northern Boundary of Oregon,\" Oregon Historical Quarterly, XX. (1919), p. 28. 1946 The Oregon Treaty. 233\nVancouver to Victoria in 1843. Simpson, who profoundly distrusted all American settlers, entertained fears for the safety of\nthe valuable stores concentrated at Fort Vancouver. Lord\nAberdeen recognized this decision as being a tacit admission of\ndefeat in Oregon. Such a surrender of the Columbia River was\nthe key to peaceful settlement, and Aberdeen translated the\nretreat into a treaty of peace.\nThe Treaty which was of such importance to the Pacific\nNorthwest was accepted with equanimity by officials of the Hudson's Bay Company, but the cry of \" 54\u00C2\u00B0 40' or fight\" had\naroused such a great surge of nationalism in the United States\nthat Polk was roundly berated for having accepted its terms.\nAlthough he won a state thereby, his bluff had been called.\nSenator Benton, referring to \" 54\u00C2\u00B0 40' or fight,\" said:\u00E2\u0080\u0094\nAnd this is the end of the great Line! All gone\u00E2\u0080\u0094vanished\u00E2\u0080\u0094evaporated\ninto thin air\u00E2\u0080\u0094and the peace when it was not to be found. Oh mountain\nthat was delivered of a mouse, thy name henceforth shall be 54:40.17\nThe significance of the settlement as far as the United States\nwas concerned was that America had now acquired a domain\nimperial in extent, which stretched from sea to sea. She had\nsecured a firm foothold on the shores of the Pacific Ocean. Of\neven greater importance was the fact that it ushered in an era\nof Anglo-American peace, good-will, and free trade, which during the next fifteen years (with slight exception) operated\ngreatly to strengthen the North and the West in the United\nStates against the day of Southern secession and a war for the\ndivision of the Union. A third result to America that was to be\nof great importance in the future was Polk's restatement of the\nMonroe doctrine of 1823, by which Polk warned all European\nnations not to interfere with the coast, as well as any other part\nof the American continent.\nThe results for Canada were no less important. The judgment of those in the area was that Britain had actually conceded\ntoo much, but that the area in dispute was not worth a war.\nThe reaction of James Douglas was typical:\u00E2\u0080\u0094\nThe British government has surrendered more than strict justice required;\nbut John Bull is generous, and was bound to be something more than just to\n(17) J. W. Foster, A Century of American Diplomacy, New York, 1902,\np. 313.\n4 234 Robert E. Cail.\nhis promising son Jonathan, who will no doubt make a good use of the gift.\nAt all events, I am glad to see the vexing question settled so quietly. The\nHudson's Bay Company is fully protected in all its interests.18.\nThe significance of the Treaty to Canada was that British\nsovereignty was definitely established over the western territory\nwhich the Dominion was later to inherit. The Oregon crisis\nprovided an example and a warning. The dangers which might\narise from the infiltration of American settlement were clearly\nevident, and the need for measures to prevent a similar outcome\nin the adjoining area was henceforth constantly before the eyes\nof the British and Canadian governments. The organization of\nVancouver Island as a Crown Colony in 1849; the subsequent\nsteps to extend effective authority over the mainland, the title to\nwhich the British had secured by the Treaty; and the concern\nover the possible fate of the Red River settlement, which played\nits part in the movement for Confederation, could all be traced\ndirectly to the lesson of Oregon. The loss of the disputed triangle between the Columbia River and the Straits was possibly\noffset by the resulting vigilance which made certain the retention\nof what now remained in British hands north of the 49th parallel.\nRobert E. Cail.\nVernon, B.C.\n(18) James Douglas to George Abernethy, November 3, 1846, quoted in\nJames Henry Brown, Political History of Oregon, Portland, 1892, p. 291. ESQUIMALT DOCKYARD'S FIRST\nBUILDINGS.\nThe three frame structures built during the Crimean War at\nDuntze Head, on Esquimalt Harbour, by Governor Douglas in\nanswer to Admiral Bruce's request for temporary hospital accommodation for his squadron, have, for many years, been a source\nof much interest to students and others. The following notes\nand photographs have been gathered together recently, and are\nnow presented in completion of the story of the \" Crimean huts,\"\nas they have been popularly designated.\nFrom time to time in the pages of this Quarterly, and elsewhere, reference has been made to their raison d'etre, their\nstructure, their uses, and their final disposal,1 but, for the sake\nof clarity, it has been thought helpful to reiterate briefly the\nstory of their building and the changes through which they\npassed.\nUpon receiving Admiral Bruce's instructions on May 7, 1855,\nDouglas lost no time in causing the hospital buildings to be commenced, thereby taking the first step towards the establishment\nof a naval base, which he had been advocating for the previous\ntwo years. By June 13 he was able to report to the Home\nGovernment:\n\" . . . I was induced ... to commence the erection of airy and roomy\nbuildings in a healthy and convenient locality . . . the buildings will be\nhabitable by the end of this month. . . . \"2\nFour months later, by which time they had been completed,\nhe described them as follows:\u00E2\u0080\u0094\n(1) J. F. Parry, Sketch of the History of the Naval Establishment at\nEsquimalt, reprinted in Victoria Times, February 19, 1906. F. V. Long-\nstaff, Esquimalt Naval Base, Victoria, 1941, p. 20. W. K. Lamb, \" Correspondence Relating to the Establishment of a Naval Base at Esquimalt,\n1851-57,\" in British Columbia Historical Quarterly, VI. (1942), p. 278.\nDonald C. Davidson, \" The War Scare of 1854,\" in British Columbia Historical Quarterly, V. (1941), pp. 249-251.\n(2) Douglas to Grey, June 13,1855.\nBritish Columbia Historical Quarterly, Vol. X.. No. 3.\n235 236 Madge Wolfenden. July\nThe hospital consists of three buildings, a centre and two wings, each\n50 feet long by 30 feet wide, and 12 feet from floor to ceiling. The windows\nare large and the ventilation perfect. The centre building contains a Kitchen,\noperating room, dispensary, and Surgeon's apartments; the wings contain\nthe sick wards and will accommodate 100 patients. . . .3\nIn the same communication Douglas mentions the fact that\nthe hospital was \"well adapted for the purpose intended and\notherwise a valuable property which . . . may be sold, at any\ntime for the full sum it has cost.\"\nAdmiral Bruce, who had only a very temporary building or\nrented premises in mind when he first wrote to Douglas, was\ndisturbed to find that the hospital had cost nearly \u00C2\u00A31,000, and\nexpressed the opinion that this was considerably more than the\nBritish Government would be willing to pay. Douglas had foreseen that a dispute over costs would arise, and presented his\ncase with such logic and firmness that the Admiralty finally paid\nup in 1857. The same year he handed the buildings over to\nCaptain Prevost, of H.M.S. Satellite, who took charge of them\nin the Admiralty's name. But although they thus became possessed of buildings there, it was not until June 29, 1865, that the\nShore Establishment of Esquimalt was formally authorized by\nthe Admiralty.\nIn the meantime the buildings had been put to good use, one\nbecoming a storeroom, whilst the second remained a hospital.\nTowards the end of 1858 part of the third building was adapted\nas a draughting-room for the use of the officers of H.M. surveying ship Plumper, and in 1859 Assistant-Surgeon Samuel Campbell, who was in charge of the hospital, made his residence there.\nIn order to avoid repetition, and with the object of communicating all that is known about these historic buildings, the details\nof their service have been listed in an appendix.\nTwo of them, as is well known, survived until 1936 and 1939\nrespectively. The fate of the third building after the group\nceased to be used as a hospital remained a mystery until recently,\nwhen the following letter furnished the clue that enabled the\nwriter to solve the riddle.\n(3) Douglas to Barclay, October 10,1855. 1946 Esquimalt Dockyard's First Buildings. 237\nNew W[estminste]r. 10 Novr. 1863*\nSir,\nI have the honor to forward herewith Plan & Elevation for converting\none of the vacant Log Buildings at the Old Hospital Point Esquimalt into\na moderate [modern?] residence for Admiral Commanding on this Station.\n. You will observe it consists of removing a few partitions, altering\nWindows & Doors, and adding a new portion at the end. It also provides\na Kitchen, Store room, &c. I have also thought it as well to design an\nupper Storey for further extension of accommodation some future day.\nMr. Whites lately discharged from the R[oyal] E[ngineers] the very\nintelligent N.C.O. who waited on you is now establishing himself as a\nBuilder & Architect. He designed these adaptations and would be a suitable\nperson to undertake the construction.\nI have, &c,\nsigd. R. C. Moody\nCol. Comdg.\nRear Admiral\nJ Kingcome\nComdr.-in-Chief\nPacific Squadron\n&c., &c., &c,\nThe next step in unravelling the history of building No. 3 was\nto discover whether Colonel Moody's suggestion was ever carried\nout, and, if possible, when the alterations were made.\nIn an album of photographs taken by Frederick Dally between\nthe years 1867 and 1870 is one showing these three buildings\nside by side; the most southerly building of the three is in the\nprocess of conversion to a dwelling-house with a second story.\nAnother photograph album, kept by Commander H. W. Mist\nwhilst in command of H.M.S. Sparrowhawk on the Esquimalt\nStation from 1868 to 1872, shows the dwelling complete, with\ndormer windows in the roof.\nThe evidence of these photographs, dated as they are with\nfair precision, would seem to indicate that although Colonel\nMoody's letter was written in the autumn of 1863, the alterations to the building were not effected until 1867 at the earliest.\nHis second suggestion, namely, that building No. 3 should become\na residence for the Admiral, was apparently never acted upon,\n(4) Royal Engineers. Correspondence Outward. July-November, 1863.\n(5) Corporal John C. White was the artist who painted the well-known\nwater-colour of New Westminster's 24th of May celebration in 1865, photographic copies of which have frequently been reproduced. 238 Madge Wolfenden. July\nfor we know that Admiral Hastings, who was in command of\nthe Esquimalt Station from 1867 until 1869, lived at \" Maple-\nbank,\" a house built on Hudson's Bay Company property near\nthe Indian Reserve on the opposite side of the harbour. It is\nalso fairly certain that Admiral Denman also lived at \" Maple-\nbank \" even previous to that time, when it was known as \" Dallas\nBank.\"\nThe first naval storekeeper to be appointed to Esquimalt was\nPaymaster Sidney John Spark, R.N., who took over his duties at\nthe Dockyard late in 1865. Research has not revealed whether\nhe used the residence in question, but it is surmised that during\nthe latter part of his appointment he did so.\nPaymaster Spark was succeeded in 1873 by James Henry\nInnes. Mr. Innes, who, with his wife and seven children\ntravelled from England to Victoria, found upon arrival that the\nhouse in which he was expected to live was not sufficiently commodious for his numerous family.6\nMrs. W. E. Scott, of Ganges Harbour, Saltspring Island, who\nis the only surviving member of the Innes family in British\nColumbia, has been most helpful in identifying her father's house\nand office in the photographs, and in relating interesting details\nconcerning her childhood days spent at Duntze Head. Mrs.\nScott relates that the family boarded with Mrs. H. B. Ella, on\nFort Street, while more and necessary alterations were made to\ntheir house.\nThe Innes family lived in the converted \" Crimean \" building\nuntil 1885, when plans for a bigger and more suitable house for\nthe Storekeeper were put into execution. These plans resulted\nin the building of the brick house7 adjoining the site of the three\noriginal huts, with its front door facing north instead of west.\nTo obtain the necessary space for the brick house it was\nexpedient to demolish the former dwelling-house, consequently\nthe Storekeeper and his family were obliged to find other quarters in the interval. They occupied the house lately vacated by\nthe Dockyard Engineer, the most northerly one of the group as\nshown in the accompanying photographs, and designated building No. 1.\n(6) Ella C. Scott to M. Wolfenden, February 5, 1946.\n(7) This house since 1936 has been the residence of the Senior Naval\nOfficer, R.C.N., of Esquimalt station. 1946 Esquimalt Dockyard's First Buildings. 239\nOwing to the fact that the correspondence between the naval\nauthorities at Esquimalt and the Home Government was removed\nat the time of the withdrawal of the Imperial forces from this\ncoast, many interesting facts concerning the Dockyard and its\ndevelopment by necessity remain obscure.\nThe photographs and the documents to which reference has\nbeen made are all to be found in the Provincial Archives.\nMadge Wolfenden.\nVictoria, B.C. 240 Madge Wolfenden.\nAPPENDIX.*\nBUILDING No. 1.\nThis building was first used as a store and provision room for the hospital from 1856 until 1859, when it became a hospital ward. From 1862, when\nthe hospital was transferred to Skinner Cove, it apparently was vacant.\nPresumably from 1871 until 1879, when another residence was built, it was\nused by the Chief Engineer of the Dockyard. After 1885 and until 1910 it\nserved as a double residence for the Chief Boatswain and Carpenter of the\ndockyard; in 1891 it was added to. From 1910 and until 1914 the Chief\nClerk of the Naval Stores Officer lived in part of it, the other part remaining vacant. During World War I. the building became the office of H.M.C.S.\nShearwater Shore Establishment. The rear section, originally kitchens, was\ncondemned in 1917 and torn down. The main portion of the building stood\nempty after the conclusion of hostilities and until 1936, when it was\ndemolished.\nBUILDING No. 2.\nFrom 1856 until 1862 this was the Naval Hospital proper. In 1865,\nwhen Paymaster S. J. Spark was appointed Paymaster-in-Charge of Victualling Stores, it became his office and continued as the office of the Naval\nStorekeeper until the withdrawal of the Imperial forces in 1905. Quarters\nwere also provided in it for the Commander-in-Chief Pacific Coast, when\nashore. Alterations were effected in 1901. From 1905 onwards it was the\noffice of the Naval Agent, and later of the Superintendent of the Dockyard.\nIn 1913 it was in use as the general office of the Dockyard Civilian staff,\nand during World War I. it was enlarged to accommodate a larger staff.\nThough condemned in 1936 because of the ravages of dry-rot, it was not\nfinally demolished until 1939.\nBUILDING No. 3.\nThis building seems to have remained unused until 1858, when it was\nconverted into a drawing office for the use of the officers of H.M.S. Plumper.\nUpon Doctor Campbell's appointment to the hospital, half of it was used by\nhim as a residence. Between 1867 and 1870 it was converted into a two-\nstory dwelling-house for the Naval Storekeeper. Altered in 1873 to accommodate the large family of Mr. J. H. Innes, it was demolished in 1885, to\nmake room for the brick dwelling now designated \" Dockyard House.\"\n* Certain details not found in the above-mentioned general references\nwere obtained from a Report contained in Commodore C. Goodrich's letter to\nthe Lieutenant-Governor of British Columbia, dated January 20, 1905 (British Columbia Executive Papers 1905/8). In this photograph all three \" Crimean Huts \" are to be seen.\nBuilding: No. 1 on the left is the Dockyard Engineer's house. Building No. 2 in the centre is the office, while Building No. 3 on the\nright has been altered for a Storekeeper's residence. Date approximately 1870.\n; 4\nHMK.i.ti. - ffjJx \\n^\n\u00E2\u0084\u00A2\nPM^# i,rw t%m loir\n,\u00C2\u00A7L-' ' {* I .-^^.\u00E2\u0096\u00A0ir-.\nWm\nH\nThe earliest known view of the \" Crimean Huts,\" showing\nBuilding No. 2, the Hospital proper, on the left; and Building\nNo. 3, Doctor Campbell's residence, on the right. Building No. 1\nis out of sight to the left of the picture. Date probably after 1862\nwhen the hospital was removed to Skinner Cove.\nIn this photograph are to be seen, from left to right, Buildings\nNos. 1 and 2 which survived until 1936 and 1939 ; and on the extreme\nright, the Storekeeper's brick house built in 1885. NOTES AND COMMENTS.\nBRITISH COLUMBIA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION.\nVictoria Section.\nForeshadowing the approaching centenary of the signing of the Oregon\nBoundary Treaty on June 15, 1846, Mr. Willard E. Ireland, Provincial\nArchivist, addressed a meeting of the section held on Tuesday, May 14, in\nthe Provincial Library. The address, Beyond Old Oregon: Larger Issues\nin the Boundary Controversy, indicated that the issues which resulted in an\namicable adjustment lay for the most part beyond the confines of the wilderness partitioned to which neither country had, in reality, a clear and unquestioned title. Economic conditions in both Great Britain and the United\nStates pointed towards a compromise solution. While Great Britain had to\nbear in mind the position of her other North American colonies in formulating a policy in Oregon, the United States, on the other hand, had to\nconsider the condition of her relations with Mexico.\nSome fifty members of the section motored to Saanichton on Saturday,\nMay 18, to join with the Saanich Pioneer Society in unveiling plaques to the\nmemory of two great Saanich pioneers. As the late Simon Fraser Tolmie,\nformer Premier of British Columbia, had officiated when the first log of the\nPioneer Inn was placed in position it was only fitting that his long association with the Saanich district should be commemorated at that spot. On\nbehalf of the Vancouver Daily Province, Mr. B. A. McKelvie presented a fine\nsketch in oils of the Hon. S. F. Tolmie, the work of George H. Southwell,\nand took the occasion to speak of the former premier's contributions as a\nprivate citizen and as a political leader. The second plaque honoured the\nmemory of Lawrence Christopher Hagan, pioneer and for many years\nprominent councillor of the Municipality of Saanich. Both plaques were\npresented by the British Columbia Government Travel Bureau.\nVancouver Section.\nThe May meeting of the section, held in the Grosvenor Hotel on Tuesday,\nMay 7, highlighted the forthcoming celebration at the Peace Arch, Blaine,\nin commemoration of the hundredth anniversary of the signing of the\nOregon Boundary Treaty. Choosing as his topic Contemporary British\nOpinion on the Oregon Crisis, 1848-46, the Provincial Archivist, Mr. Willard\nE. Ireland, traced by frequent references to the editorials of the London\nTimes and other British journals the propaganda campaign launched in\nGreat Britain to pave the way for a compromise solution of the troublesome\nboundary question. The marked contrast between public reaction to the\nissues in Great Britain and the United States was noted: whereas there\nwas but one full-dress debate in the British Parliament, the American Congress frequently was used as a sounding-board for expansionist sentiment.\nBritish Columbia Historical Quarterly, Vol. X., No. 3.\n241 242 Notes and Comments. July\nCENTENARY OF THE SIGNING OF THE OREGON BOUNDARY\nTREATY, JUNE 15, 1846.\nThe British Columbia Historical Association as early as August, 1943,\nentered into correspondence with the Oregon Historical Society and the\nWashington State Historical Society for the suitable commemoration of the\ncentenary of the signing of the Oregon Boundary Treaty of June 15, 1846.\nEarly in 1946 a special committee was set up under the chairmanship of\nMr. Willard E. Ireland, comprising Miss Madge Wolfenden, Major H.\nCuthbert Holmes, Mr. B. A. McKelvie, and Mr. E. G. Rowebottom, to work\nin conjunction with a committee of the Washington State Historical Society\non the project. From this there evolved the Oregon Boundary Centennial\nPlanning Committee, with Col. the Hon. W. C. Woodward, Lieutenant-\n'Governor of British Columbia, and the Hon. Mon. C. Wallgren, Governor of\nthe State of Washington, acting as Honorary co-Chairmen, and Mr. Thomas\nA. Swayze, Tacoma, Wash., and Mr. Willard E. Ireland, Victoria, B.C., as\nco-Chairmen, and Chapin D. Foster, Tacoma, Wash., as Executive Secretary.\nA strong general committee, composed of representatives of the cities and\nmunicipalities adjacent to the boundary, was organized, and in addition the\nwhole-hearted co-operation of the Peace Arch Association was assured.\nTwo main projects were undertaken: the erection of a cairn and the\npublication of a commemorative pamphlet. The latter was made financially\npossible by the British Columbia Department of Trade and Industry and\nthe Washington Department of Conservation and Development. A 58-page\nbrochure containing an historical account of the event, beautifully illustrated, is about to be released. The text was written by Dr. Burt Brown\nBarker, Portland, Ore., Professor Charles M. Gates, Seattle, Wash., and\nWillard E. Ireland, Victoria, B.C. A smaller 16-page digest of this brochure was prepared for release at the time of the main celebration.\nA special cairn committee, under the co-Chairmanship of Col. Howard A.\nHanson, Seattle, Wash., and Dr. W. N. Sage, Vancouver, B.C., recommended\nthe Peace Arch Park near Blaine, Wash., as a suitable site for the erection\nof the cairn. Steps were taken to ensure that this marker would be officially\nrecognized by the International Boundary Commission and by the Historic\nSites and Monuments Board of Canada, which latter body generously agreed\nto bear the Canadian share of the expenses involved. The cairn, 5 feet in\nheight, is a monolithic native granite block on a concrete base. It was\ncentred on the boundary-line approximately 100 yards east of the Peace\nArch. Cut into the face on one side is the word CANADA and on the other,\nUNITED STATES; subsequently appropriate bronze plaques will be added.\nOver 8,000 people- were in attendance at the official unveiling of this\ncairn on Saturday, June 15. Preceding the ceremony 250 guests and dignitaries attended a luncheon tendered by the Blaine Chamber of Commerce, to\nwhich the Provincial Council of the British Columbia Historical Association\nand the Section Councils were invited. The band of the American Second\nDivision, Fort Lewis, Wash., and the Depot Band of Military District No. 11,\nof Canada, were in attendance at the ceremony which commenced at 2 p.m.,\nMayor William Mott, of New Westminster, B.C., presiding. Representative 1946 Notes and Comments. 243\nHenry M. Jackson in his capacity as Chairman of the World Maritime\nLabour Conference then in session in Seattle, Wash., was the first speaker\nand emphasized the international significance of the event celebrated. The\n\u00E2\u0080\u00A2Hon. George M. Weir, Minister of Education, was the official spokesman for\nthe Province of British Columbia and was followed by Lieutenant-Governor\nVictor A. Meyers for the State of Washington. The cairn was unveiled by\nDr. W. N. Sage, representing the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of\nCanada, and Captain A. M. Sobieralski, Seattle, Wash., representing the\nInternational Boundary Commission. This portion of the programme was\nreleased over the national network of the C.B.C. and station KJR in Seattle,\nWash., with Mr. Bill Herbert of C.B.C. as commentator.\nFollowing the unveiling .an impressive parade of the colours of military\nand veteran organizations of both Canada and the United States passed\nthrough the Peace Arch to mass for a final salute before the speakers' stand.\nThe ceremony was brought to a close with a pageant telling the story of the\nCanadian and American flags.\nOn Tuesday evening, June 18, the Province of British Colunjbia entertained some ninety guests at a banquet in the Empress Hotel, Victoria, B.C.\nCol. the Hon. W. C. Woodward and Mrs. Woodward were in attendance.\nMembers of the Provincial Cabinet were present. Greetings were brought\nto the gathering by Miss Madge Wolfenden, President, British Columbia\nHistorical Association; Mr. Chapin D. Foster, Secretary-Director, Washington State Historical Society; Mr. Lancaster Pollard, Superintendent,\nOregon Historical Society; and Dr. W. N. Sage, Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada. Guest speaker of the evening was Mr. B. A.\nMcKelvie, who with great care sketched the story of the Oregon Treaty,\npaying particular attention to the influence of the much earlier Nootka\nSound Convention on the later negotiation. The Hon. George M. Weir\nthanked the speakers for messages from historical associations and Mr.\nMcKelvie for his informative address.\nThis historic anniversary was also the occasion of fitting celebrations\nelsewhere along the border. From all sections of the Okanagan valley\npeople assembled on Sunday, June 16, on the boundary between Osoyoos,\nB.C., and Oroville, Wash. Decorated cars and floats, veteran organizations, school bands, and Indians in full regalia added to the colour of the\noccasion, which marked the unveiling of a monument by Dr. R. R. Laird,\nM.L.A. for Similkameen, and Mr. J. V. Rogers, Mayor of Wenatchee, Wash.\nThe international significance of the celebration was stressed in addresses\nby Mrs. Zella McGregor, Penticton, B.C., Past President of the Federated\nWomen's Institutes of Canada, and Mrs. Frances Spanger, Cashmere, Wash.,\nPresident of the American Legion Auxiliary. Captain H. A. Davis,\nOkanogan, Wash., and Mrs. R. B. White, Penticton, B.C., dealt with the\nhistoric backgrounds of the treaty and of the Okanagan valley in particular.\nAn impressive feature was the Indian ceremony contributed by members of\nthe Colville Agency in Washington and the Inkameep Reserve in British\nColumbia. The proceedings were brought to a close by the exchange of\nflags by the Canadian and American Legions. 244 Notes and Comments. July\nStill farther eastward a ceremony was held at the international\nboundary between Carson, B.C., and Danville, Wash., on Sunday, June 16.\nCommemorative addresses were delivered by Mr. John T. Raftis, Colville,\nWash., and Mr. D. C. Manly, Mayor of Grand Forks, B.C. Flags were\nexchanged by the respective branches of the Canadian and American\nLegions and a unique feature concluding the ceremony was a pledge of\nfriendship made by the massed citizens of both countries, over 1,000 being\nin attendance.\nADDRESS OF THE HONOURABLE GEORGE M. WEIR,\nPEACE ARCH PARK, JULY 15, 1946.\n\" One hundred years ago to-day there was signed in Washington, D.C,\na treaty between the Governments of Great Britain and the United States\nof America. Popularly known as the ' Oregon Treaty,' it divided the Oregon\nTerritory, which, since 1818, had been open to joint occupation by both\ncountries, by laying down the forty-ninth parallel as the land boundary\nbetween British and American possessions from the Rocky Mountains to\nthe Pacific Ocean.\n\" Oregon Territory was then largely a vast, uninhabited wilderness, valued\nprimarily as a fur preserve by the enterprising traders of both countries.\nThanks to the organizing genius of the Hudson's Bay Company, British\ninterests were for many years predominant. Time, however, was working\non the side of the United States. A tide of settlement was sweeping across\nthe great American plains which found no parallel in the adjacent British\nterritory. Eventually it reached the shores of the Pacific Ocean and\nbecame a deciding factor in solving the question of disputed national\nsovereignty. Nor must it be forgotten that for both Great Britain and the\nUnited States there were larger national issues involved, more significant,\nperhaps, than the mere possession of the thousands of square miles which\neventually comprised the States of Washington, Oregon, Montana, and\nIdaho, and the Province of British Columbia.\n\" It is our privilege to-day to honour the memory of those pioneers who,\nwith enormous courage and fortitude, carved their homes from a wilderness. Cairns and arches are but tangible expressions of our gratitude.\nThe ultimate tribute must be our assurance that the edifice we erect shall\nbe worthy of the foundations they pioneered.\n\" There is, however, an even greater significance to the event we commemorate. It brought to a close a period of protracted negotiations that\nfrom time to time promised to become fruitful of increasing controversy\nand tension. The respective claims of Great Britain and the United States\nto the territory were often ably, though vigorously, expounded. Despite\nthe fact that Oregon Territory was remote, that its great natural resources\nwere practically unknown and unexploited, for a time public sentiment\nbecame so inflamed that recourse to war was frequently referred to as a\npossible, if not probable, means of settling the dispute. Yet in the end an\namicable adjustment was reached. In both countries the real strength of\npublic opinion was arrayed against a belligerent policy. This treaty was 1946 Notes and Comments. 245\nfounded on a basis of neighbourliness, and laid the foundation for future\nCanadian-American relations in this westernmost part of the continent that\nhas been preserved from that day to this.\n\" For Canada this treaty has a particular significance. Its provisions\nmade geographically possible the eventual creation of a Dominion of Canada\nstretching from the Atlantic to the Pacific. It was basically an agreement\nthat provided that the peoples of both the United States and Canada should\nshare in the economic resources of the Pacific Northwest; that both should\nhave their ports, their railroads, their industry and their commerce; that\nboth should pursue their national destiny in a spirit of harmony and cooperation unimpeded by border hostilities.\n\" Admittedly the relations of Canada and the United States since that\nday have many times been troubled, but they have never been strained\nbeyond the point of peaceful adjustment. Our joint problems have all been\nfaced and solved in the light of a realism that springs from the knowledge\nthat whilst we are two people, we are of one family.\n\" We are proud that for one hundred years ours has been an unviolated\nfrontier. But international good-will is not a will o' the wisp nor a whim\nof fortune. It is a spirit in the mind of man, the possession of which\ndemands his noblest and most strenuous efforts. The unity of purpose\nwhich has characterized the efforts of our two nations as allies in the common task of preserving liberty and freedom in the world must be perpetuated. It is not, therefore, in a spirit of idle boasting that we would\ncommemorate a century of peace. Rather it is our ardent hope that the\npracticability of international good-will here demonstrated may flourish and\ngain universal acceptance.\n\" The Province of British Columbia is happy to join with the adjacent\nStates of the American Union in commemorating this historic event. We\ncan only view with deep satisfaction this proof that understanding, goodwill, and peace between nations is not an idle dream. We may look forward\nto the future with confidence if we sincerely and earnestly endeavour to\nperpetuate the spirit which has characterized the past one hundred years.\nLet us hope that this ceremony to-day will be a symbol of the new links of\nfriendship which Canada will forge with our Neighbour to the South.\"\nBRITISH COLUMBIA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION\nESSAY COMPETITION.\nAs part of the Oregon Boundary Treaty Centenary programme the\nBritish Columbia Historical Association sponsored an essay competition\nopen to the students of the University of British Columbia, Victoria College,\nand the Canadian Naval College, Royal Roads. Three prizes of $25, $15,\nand $10 respectively were offered. Each institution was asked to submit\nthe three most outstanding essays for final adjudication by a committee\ncomposed of Miss Alma Russell, former Assistant Provincial Librarian and\nArchivist; Mr. Harry D. Dee, of the staff of Victoria High School; and\nMr. Willard E. Ireland, Provincial Archivist. 246 Notes and Comments.\nFirst prize was awarded to Mr. Robert E. Cail, Vernon, B.C., a student\nat the University of British Columbia. His essay is published in this issue\nof the Quarterly. Miss Marjorie Aldritt, Victoria, B.C., and Mr. David\nCharters, Vancouver, B.C., were awarded the second and third prizes\nrespectively. The former is a student at Victoria College and the latter at\nthe University of British Columbia. Honourable mention was given Cadet\nG. C. Hyatt, of the Canadian Naval College, Royal Roads, and Mr. David\nI. W. Braide, of Victoria College.\nIt is interesting to note that in addition to this essay competition a\nsimilar project was sponsored by the Delta Chapter, I.O.D.E., of Ladner,\nB.C., in the Senior and Junior High Schools of that district, under the\ndirection of Miss Patricia Johnson. Evan Price \"was awarded the prize for\nthe Senior High School division and Doris Hall for the Junior High School\ndivision. An essay competition amongst the school children on both sides\nof the boundary was also a feature of the celebration held in the Okanagan\nvalley.\nHELMCKEN HOUSE MUSEUM.\nAn interesting event took place at Helmcken House Museum on July 5\nwhen Mr. Willard E. Ireland, Provincial Archivist, presented a framed\npicture of the historic old house to Mr. Victor A. Magnin, of Los Angeles,\nCal. The presentation marked the ten thousandth visitor to register since\nthe museum was officially opened to the public on August 26, 1941. The\nresident curator, Mrs. H. Webster, reported that visitors from every province of Canada and every state of the American Union have been registered.\nCONTRIBUTORS TO THIS ISSUE.\nCorday Mackay, M.A., is librarian on the staff of the Lord Byng High\nSchool, Vancouver, B.C., and has written many articles on the history of\nthe Hudson's Bay Company and British Columbia.\nRobert E. Cail, of Vernon, B.C., is a veteran of three years' service with\nthe Royal Canadian Air Force, who has recently returned to the University\nof British Columbia to complete his academic studies. His essay submitted\nin the competition sponsored by the British Columbia Historical Association was awarded first prize.\nMadge Wolfenden is Assistant Archivist in the Provincial Archives and\nPresident of the British Columbia Historical Association.\nGrace Lee Nute, Curator of Manuscripts of the Minnesota Historical\nSociety, is the author of several books dealing with the voyageurs and\nexplorers of the Middle West.\nRev. J. C. Goodfellow, a member of the Council of the British Columbia\nHistorical Association and a former President of the Association is also\neditor of the Princeton Similkameen Star. THE NORTHWEST BOOKSHELF.\nThe Journal of John Work, January to October, 1835. With an introduction and notes by Henry Drummond Dee. [Archives of British Columbia, Memoir No. X.] Pp. 98. 111. $2.50.\nMost of John Work's sixteen diaries have now been published. This is\nthe last one in the Provincial Archives of British Columbia and next to the\nlast one extant. The last one, May 13-26, 1851, is in the Howay Collection\nin the Library of the University of British Columbia.\nThe series of fifteen in the Provincial Archives begins at York Factory\nin July, 1823, and continues through Work's career as a fur-trader in the\nOregon country, at Fort George, Spokane House, Fort Colvile, Fort Vancouver, in the Snake River and Flathead country, and in California. All\nof these are land diaries. The journal under review is primarily maritime\nin character. It takes Work in the brig Lama from the mouth of the\nColumbia River up along the Northwest Coast, with stops at Fort McLoughlin and Fort Simpson; and with side trips to Kaigani, Nass River, Vancouver Island, Queen Charlotte Islands, and a few other places. Finally,\nin September and October there is a voyage to Fort Langley in the Lama\nand thence by brig and canoe to Fort Nisqually and down the Columbia to\nFort Vancouver.\nIt is a typical trader's record, using terms and references that without\nthe editor's copious notes would be difficult to understand. Mainly its burden is a jeremiad against the Yankee traders on the Coast, who were able\nto get most of the natives' furs because the Company men could neither\nproduce the articles wanted by the Indians nor pay such high prices as the\nNew Englanders. Quite a little is added to the fascinating story of the\n\" Bastonais \" on the Coast by the constant references in this diary to the\nvessels, the captains, and the trade methods that Work encountered on his\njourney.\nOne is struck constantly by the hazardous life of both Boston and Bay\nmen on this coast. Every few entries one meets a reference to a murder\n.of native or white man. In comparison, a trader's life in more eastern\nsections of the continent, even among Sioux or Blackfoot Indians, was relatively tame. The Coast Indians must have been corrupted early by rival\ntraders, for by 1835 they appear completely perfidious. Work relates not\na little about their customs and manner of life.\nAnother fact is borne home to the reader of this diary by reiteration,\nnamely, the difficulty that was experienced on the Coast in clearing land for\na fort, building chimneys, and extracting a harvest from the heavy soil.\nThe new Fort Simpson was not yet completed and the diary reveals much\nof its layout, architecture, and the materials used in constructing it.\nThe diary has been transcribed with great care\u00E2\u0080\u0094almost too meticulously\nin spots. I doubt the wisdom of such frequent use of [sic] for mere mis-\nBritish Columbia Historical Quarterly, Vol. X., No. 3.\n247 248 The Northwest Bookshelf. July\nspellings as is found in the book. There is a good deal of repetition in the\nfoot-notes, though perhaps not too much for the complete stranger to the\nlush growth of obscure Indian tribes, unusual fishes, and odd names of all\nkinds on the Northwest Coast.\nThe paper of the volume is beautiful, but the print is very unsatisfactory. Both text and foot-notes seem to be set in the same small type.\nProbably war conditions in the printing business explains this unfortunate\nchoice. There is no index.\nGrace Lee Nute.\nMinnesota Historical Society.\nA History of Prince George. By Rev. F. E. Runnalls. With a Foreword\nby Harry G. Perry. Vancouver: Wrigley Printing Company, 1946.\nPp. xiv., 197. Maps and ill. $2.\nRev. F. E. Runnalls, B.A., B.D., has been minister of the United Church\nof Canada at Armstrong, B.C., since the beginning of July, 1946. Prior\nto that he was minister of the United Church at Prince George for five\nyears. During that time he prepared an authentic and very readable\naccount of the community and district which he served. With a foreword\nby Harry G. Perry, former Speaker of the Legislative Assembly, this has\nnow been issued in book form. The history is carefully docketed and indexed,\nand is profusely illustrated. The frontispiece shows an air view of Prince\nGeorge, taken in 1929, and the story which follows takes a wide view of\nthe town and district from the earliest times to the present day. An appendix includes lists of mayors, aldermen, and other civic officials, together with\na bibliography. There seems to be only one printer's error, and one error\nof fact, in the book's 200 pages: \" January \" is misspelled on page 171;\nand, on page 179, under \" 1926,\" the second alderman should be I. (Ivor) B.\nGuest, instead of H. B. Guest.\nIn Sir Mortimer Durand's Life of the Right Hon. -Sir Alfred Comyn\nLyall, we read of the hero receiving \" copies of his volume of ' Asiatic\nStudies,' with a ' kindly but magisterial letter' from the editor of ' The\nEdinburgh Review,' for omitting to acknowledge in his preface that one of\nthe chapters was taken from an ' Edinburgh' article. Lyall had asked\npermission, but had forgotten to mention it, and he now apologized humbly,\n' pleading youth and inexperience as an author.'\" Mr. Runnalls was in\ngood company when he forgot to mention that part of his story had already\nappeared in the British Columbia Historical Quarterly, and can plead the\nsame excuse as did Sir Alfred Comyn Lyall.\n\u00E2\u0080\u00A2The History of Prince George reveals the author as a careful, painstaking chronicler of local history, not lacking a sense of humour or the gift of\nimagination. The opening paragraph reveals the scope of his undertaking:\u00E2\u0080\u0094\nNot far from the geographical centre of British Columbia there is a lovely\nvalley where the clear waters of the Nechako River join those of the muddy\nFraser. Here at the meeting of the waters is situated the young and enterprising city of Prince George. Its citizens believe that its greatness lies in\nthe future, but there is sufficient romance in the few years of its history, 1946 The Northwest Bookshelf. 249\nand in the many years that preceded its birth, to be worth the' telling, and\nit is the purpose of this work to relate some of that romance.\nThen follows a story worth telling, well told.\nFollowing a chapter on geology\u00E2\u0080\u0094\" Before the Age of Man \"\u00E2\u0080\u0094Mr. Runnalls tells of the native Indian peoples called the Denes; traces the story\nof the great explorers, Mackenzie and Fraser, and the history of the fur\ncompanies in the area. There is a chapter on \" The Golden Cariboo,\" which\nincludes a record of the Overlanders of 1862. The story of the Telegraph\nTrail, and the coming of the railways\", is well told. Credit is given to the\nearly Roman Catholic missionaries for pioneer religious work, especially\namongst the Indians. The work of Protestant denominations is noted in\n\"The Story of a Wedding\" (chapter XL), and elsewhere throughout the\nbook.\nThe second half of the book is taken up with the story of Prince George\nitself; of the early settlers, difficulties of transportation, the struggle\nbetween rival communities, the romance of real estate, the growth of\nindustry, and community life.\nThe closing chapter\u00E2\u0080\u0094\" Hope Springs Eternal\"\u00E2\u0080\u0094links the long story\nwith the Second World War, and consequent developments in building and\ntransportation. The railway-line to Prince Rupert became the \" Burma\nRoad \" of Alaska, and the opening of the Alaska Highway in November,\n1942, brought new visions to old settlers. \" In view of these facts,\" concludes Mr. Runnalls, \" and because Prince George is so strategically located\nin the Central Interior of British Columbia, the rosy hopes for the future\nwhich are entertained by its citizens are understandable.\"\nMr. Runnalls is to be commended for producing such a work, and it is\nto be hoped that others will do for other communities what he has done so\nwell for Prince George.\nJohn Goodfellow.\nPrinceton, B.C.\nFur and Gold in the Kootenays. By Clara Graham. Vancouver: Wrigley\nPrinting Company, 1945. Pp. xiii., 206. Map and ill. $3.\nThis interesting volume supplements in many respects the Tales of the\nKootenays, published by Fred J. Smyth in 1938 and issued in a second edition in 1942. Mr. Smyth devoted most of his attention to the later 80's\nand 90's. Mrs. Graham, on the other hand, deals with earlier days, and\nher narrative extends from primitive times to the middle 80's and the\nfounding of Nelson.\nThe book is divided into three parts. The first\u00E2\u0080\u0094\" The Country and its\nPrimitive Peoples \"\u00E2\u0080\u0094consists of only a few pages, but forms a useful and\ninformative outline, despite its brevity. Part II. is devoted to the explorers,\nfur-traders, and missionaries who travelled through or settled in the Kootenays in the period 1807-58. David Thompson, Sir George Simpson, and\nFather De Smet are the most celebrated figures dealt with, and they overshadow all others\u00E2\u0080\u0094even such notables as David Douglas and Paul Kane.\nThe journals of these and other travellers contain striking and often dra- 250 The Northwest Bookshelf. July\nmatic accounts of their journeys up and down the Columbia, and elsewhere\nin the region, and Mrs. Graham has performed a most useful service in\nbringing the substance of them together. Indeed, this part of the book\nmight well have been extended considerably, and readers would probably\nhave welcomed more direct quotations from the original sources.\nPart III. is entitled \" Early Gold Mining and Other Events, 1856-1888.\"\nThe topics treated include the Palliser expedition, the gold-rush to Wild\nHorse Creek, the building of the Dewdney Trail, Baillie-Grohman's once\ncelebrated land reclamation scheme, and accounts of the Kootenay adventures of Moberly, Sproat, Dr. Dawson, and others. The variety of material\navailable is remarkable, and here again it is evident that a much larger\nbook could easily be written, even if use were made only of sources readily\nto hand.\nThere are twenty-seven illustrations, and an outline map, that appears\nas a frontispiece, has wisely been made simple and crystal clear. Both Mrs.\nGraham and her printers are to be congratulated on the attractive type and\nformat. It may not be generally known that many books bearing the\nimprint of Toronto publishers are now being printed in British Columbia.\nIn view of the quality of work done by local presses this is not surprising.\nIt seems ungracious to add an errata slip to a review, but a few errors\nof fact can scarcely be left unnoticed. Cook was not the first white man\nto see British Columbia, and Captain Vancouver arrived fourteen years,\nnot three years, after Cook's visit (p. 20); Bishop Demers did not publish\nthe first newspaper in British Columbia (p. 71); and Walter Moberly did\nnot belong to the Royal Engineers (p. 150). There are several slips and\nomissions in the bibliography, notably in the authorship of The Honourable\nCompany, which is attributed to Douglas Reid instead of to Douglas Mackay\n(p. 205). It will be noticed that none of these errors relates directly to\nMrs. Graham's special field of interest\u00E2\u0080\u0094the Kootenay; but they cannot help\nbut make an unfortunate impression on the historically well-informed reader.\nW. Kaye Lamb.\nVancouver, B.C.\nMaquinna the Magnificent. By B. A. McKelvie. The Vancouver Daily\nProvince, 1946. Pp. ix., 65. 111. [Printed for private distribution.]\nIn an 'endeavour to increase interest in the history of British Columbia\nthe Vancouver Daily Province commissioned Mr. B. A. McKelvie to write\nthis book. The object in view is to be commended and the publication is\na credit alike to the public spirit of the Southam Company and to its author.\nFew people are more conversant with the historic lore of this Province than\nis Mr. McKelvie.\nThe average visitor to the West Coast of Vancouver Island to-day finds\nit difficult to realize that Nootka was once the thriving trade centre of the\nPacific Northwest; that there \"incidents\" occurred which brought mighty\nEuropean powers to the verge of war. Historical students are, perhaps,\nmuch better informed for much has been written on the maritime fur trade\nand the Nootka Affair. It was not the author's purpose, however, to write 1946 The Northwest Bookshelf. 251.\nanother \" dry and historical\" account of events, but, rather, he has sought\nto indicate \" the romance and drama that swirled around the area.\"\nMr. McKelvie has sensed the epic quality of the life of Maquinna, the\nchief of the Nootkans. Consequently his story unfolds not as a narrative of\nthe great visitors to Nootka\u00E2\u0080\u0094British, Spanish, or American\u00E2\u0080\u0094but as a chronicle of the native peoples. All the great explorers and traders\u00E2\u0080\u0094Cook,\nHanna, Strange, Meares, Haswell, Colnett, Martinez, Haro, Vancouver, and\nQuadra, to mention but a few\u00E2\u0080\u0094appear upon the scene and their activities\nare described with a fine sense of historical proportion. But, throughout,\nit is the reaction of Maquinna, Callicum, his friend, or Comekela, \" the\ntravelled one,\" to these intruders which is emphasized. Events and people\nthus take on a new significance: Meares becomes responsible for returning\nComekela to his people rather than the builder of the North West America;\nthe burning of Yuquot seems more distressing than the \" Spanish Insult to\nthe British Flag\"; the murder of faithful Callicum raises more resentment against the conduct of Martinez than does his mistreatment of Colnett;\nAlberni becomes more human in his role of peace-maker. The threads of\nthe career of Maquinna are skilfully woven into the fabric of a majestic\nhistoric tapestry\u00E2\u0080\u0094a career which reaches its zenith in the brother-in-\nfriendship era of Quadra and Vancouver and descends into the tragic period\nof decline culminating in the massacre on the Boston.\nThree excellent illustrations especially prepared by the well-known\nartist, George H. Southwell, greatly enhance what is altogether a remarkably well-executed publication. Some reference notes have been added and\nthere is a list of references which in its form hardly merits the title \" Bibliography.\" The occasional typographical error detracts slightly from the\nappearance of this book, but to this reviewer the most serious criticism\narises from the inclusion of the introductory chapter. A discussion of\nanthropological questions such as the origin of the native tribes or the\nexistence of the Kingdom of Fusang, to say nothing of the mythical\n\" Sasquatch,\" seems an inappropriate introduction to the romantic story\nof \" Maquinna the Magnificent.\"\nWillard E. Ireland.\nVictoria, B.C.\nEarly Days among the Gulf Islands of British Columbia. By Margaret\n(Shaw) Walter. [Victoria: Diggon-Hibben, Limited, 1946.] Pp. 67.\nIt is nearly seventy years since Mrs. Walter first saw the Gulf Islands,\nfor it was in 1877 that her father and mother brought their four small\nchildren to British Columbia. In contrast with the glowing accounts of\nthe country that had reached them in Scotland, prospects seemed so grim\nat first that the family almost started back for the Old Country; but they\ndecided to try their luck for a time, and it is clear that Mrs. Walter at least\nhas never regretted the decision.\nThrough the years her interest in the Gulf Islands and their history has\ngrown, and purely for her own satisfaction she clipped or jotted down facts\nand stories that came her way. \" Now,\" she writes in the foreword to this 252 The Northwest Bookshelf.\npamphlet, \" in reaching fully four score years, and finding as time went on\nmany items of local interest forgotten, and other events repeated until\nmany errors crept in, I have felt moved to write down some of these in\nrambling sketches of small literary merit; but recording conditions and\nincidents of an earlier time such as can never happen again.\"\nTo her the future historian of the Islands will be duly grateful, for\nalthough her little book may be rambling, it contains a great deal of interest\nand value. Much of the material relates to Galiano and Saltspring islands;\nin date it ranges -from the first days of settlement to relatively recent times.\nW. Kaye Lamb.\nVancouver, B.C.\nVICTORIA, B.C.:\nPrinted by Charles F. Banfield, Printer to tbe King's Most Excellent Majesty.\n1946.\n650-746-6981 We\nBRITISH COLUMBIA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION\nOrganized October 31st, 1922.\nPATRON.\nHis Honour W. C. Woodward, Lieutenant-Governor of British Columbia.\nOFFICERS, 1946.\nHon. G. M. Weir ----- Honorary President.\nMadge Wolfenden ... - President.\nHelen R. Boutilier ... - Past President.\nE. G. Baynes ----- 1st Vice-President.\nMajor H. C. Holmes ... - 2nd Vice-President.\nMrs. M. R. Cree ----- Honorary Treasurer.\nW. E. Ireland ----- Honorary Secretary.\nMEMBERS OF THE COUNCIL.\nA. G. Harvey. Miss A. M. Russell. W. N. Sage.\nL. LeBourdais. B. A. McKelvie. J. C. Goodfellow.\nE. G. Rowebottom.\nWillard E. Ireland W. Kaye Lamb\n(Provincial Archivist). (Editor, Quarterly).\nH. C. Holmes G. E. White\n(Victoria Section). (Vancouver Section).\nOBJECTS.\nTo encourage historical research and stimulate public interest in history;\nto promote the preservation and marking of historic sites, buildings, relics,\nnatural features, and other objects and places of historical interest, and to\npublish historical sketches, studies, and documents.\nMEMBERSHIP.\nOrdinary members pay a fee of $2 annually in advance. The fiscal year\ncommences on the first day of January. All members in good standing\nreceive the British Columbia Historical Quarterly without further charge.\nCorrespondence and fees may be addressed to the Provincial Archives,\nParliament Buildings, Victoria, B.C."@en . "Titled \"British Columbia Historical Association Report and Proceedings\" from 1923-1929; \"British Columbia Historical Quarterly\" from 1937-1957; \"BC Historical News\" from 1968-2004; and \"British Columbia History\" from 2005 onward."@en . "Periodicals"@en . "FC3801.B72 H44"@en . "FC3801_B72_H44_1946_vol010_no003"@en . "10.14288/1.0190577"@en . "English"@en . "Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library"@en . "Victoria : British Columbia Historical Association"@en . "Images provided for research and reference use only. Permission to publish, copy, or otherwise use these images must be obtained from the British Columbia Historical Association."@en . "Original Format: University of British Columbia. Archives."@en . "British Columbia--History"@en . "British Columbia Historical Quarterly"@en . "Text"@en .